MR.  TANGIER'S  VACATIONS 


BY  EDWARD  E.  HALE 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  MAN  WITHOUT  A  COUNTRY,"  "IN  HIS  NAME,' 

"TEN  TIMES  ONE  is  TEN,"  "HIS  LEVEL  BEST," 

"UPS  AND  DOWNS,"  "FRANKLIN  IN 

FRANCE,"  ETC.,  ETC. 


BOSTON 
ROBERTS     BROTHERS 

1888 


Copyright,  1888, 
BY  EDWARD  E.  HALE. 


JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON,  CAMBRIDGE. 


MR.  TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

MR.  TANGIER  stood  at  the  door  of  his  office, 
with  his  hand  on  the  handle,  about  to  go  out. 

"  Say  to  Mr.  Willoughby  that  the  deed  will  be  ready 
at  nine  to-morrow  morning ;  that  I  will  have  witnesses 
here,  so  that  his  sons  need  not  come." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  the  intelligent  office-boy,  who  stood 
respectfully,  and  fixed  "  Willoughby  "  in  his  memory, 
by  processes  known  to  himself. 

"  If  Mr.  Sennett  comes  in,  ask  him  to  wait,  if  it  is 
possible ;  say  I  have  only  gone  to  lunch,  and  will  be 
back  at  two." 

"Yes,  sir,"  said  the  intelligent  office-boy,  and,  by 
mental  hooks  known  to  him,  fastened  "  Sennett "  next 
to  "  Willoughby  "  in  the  mental  box. 

"  Take  a  press-copy  of  the  two  letters  on  my  desk, 
then  address  them,  give  them  both  to  George  for  the 
mail,  and  make  a  neat  copy,  as  if  in  my  handwriting, 
of  the  long  one,  for  the  mail,  also.  Make  that  from 
the  press-copy ;  there  is  not  time  for  you  to  copy  it 
direct." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  said  the  boy  again,  and  Mr.  Tangier  left 
the  room.  The  office-boy  had  but  just  time  to  call 

2061839 


8  MR.   TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

George,  who  was  his  boy,  to  bid  him  wet  some  pamper, 
when  Mr.  Tangier  returned.  He  had  met  Mr.  Sennett 
and  had  brought  him  back  with  him.  The  office-boy 
gathered  up  the  long  letter  and  the  short  letter,  and 
was  retiring  to  his  lair,  so  that  the  gentlemen  might 
be  alone,  when  Mr.  Tangier  called  him  back. 

"If  Mr.  Willoughby  comes,  show  him  into  the 
sitting-room,  give  him  the  paper  and  the  '  Forum/ 
and  ask  him  if  he  will  have  the  kindness  to  wait  a 
few  minutes.  Do  not  call  me  if  you  can  help  it." 

And,  as  the  boy  retired,  Mr.  Tangier  turned  to  Mr. 
Sennett  and  said,  "  I  liked  the  looks  of  the  captain 
more  than  you  did.  His  story  is  horribly  improbable, 
and  probably  true.  I  told  him  —  "  and  here  the  boy 
was  obliged  to  shut  the  door,  and  neither  he  nor 
this  reader  will  ever  know  what  the  captain's  story 
was. 

The  office-boy  made  the  copies  of  the  long  letter 
and  the  short.  He  sent  George  to  the  post-office  with 
both,  and  then  addressed  himself  to  his  other  task  of 
copying  ten  pages  of  the  long  letter,  in  Mr.  Tangier's 
handwriting. 

While  he  did  this,  Mr.  Willoughby  came,  and  was 
put  into  the  comfortable  "  sitting-room."  A  fellow  of 
the  copying-clerk's  came  from  Curtis  &  Choate  and 
made  an  appointment  for  a  consultation  at  three  the 
next  day;  the  chairman  of  a  reception  committee 
came  up  to  know  if  Mr.  Tangier  would  be  a  vice- 
president  at  a  public  meeting  for  the  reception  of 
Baron  Kittening ;  the  junior  partner  of  Severance  & 
Hildreth  came  to  retain  Mr.  Tangier,  and  to  ask  for 
an  appointment.  Punctually  at  two,  Mr.  Heeren 
came  in,  who  was  Mr.  Tangier's  junior  partner.  He 


MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS.  9 

had  finished  his  lunch,  and  the  attentive,  observant, 
and  intelligent  office-boy  subsided,  on  the  moment, 
into  all  his  native  obscurity.  He  gave  to  Mr.  Heeren 
a  memorandum  of  the  visits  he  had  received,  and  the 
requests  which  had  been  made.  He  covered  his  copy, 
only  begun,  in  his  portfolio.  He  told  Mr.  Heeren  who 
was  in  the  inner  office,  and  where  Mr.  Willoughby 
was,  and  he  went  for  his  lunch. 

As  he  went,  the  cheerful  office-boy  reflected  that, 
though  he  should  only  have  fish-balls,  followed  by 
two  doughnuts,  for  his  lunch,  while  the  chief  could 
have,  if  he  chose,  roast  turkey,  followed  by  peach  pie, 
followed  by  frozen  pudding,  —  and  these,  at  that  mo- 
ment, happened  to  be  the  ideal  bill  of  fare  in  the 
office-boy's  mind,  —  he  reflected,  I  say,  that  he,  the 
office-boy,  had  a  chance  to  eat  the  fish-balls,  while 
Mr.  Tangier  had  no  chance  to  eat  those  other  dainties. 

Had  the  copying-clerk's  thoughts  expressed  them- 
selves in  words,  he  would  have  said,  "  A  Fish-Ball  in 
the  Mouth  is  worth  a  Turkey  on  the  Wing,"  and  so  a 
new  proverb  would  have  been  born. 

Mr.  Heeren  went  to  soothe  Mr.  Willoughby's  indig- 
nation in  the  reception-room.  Mr.  Willoughby  was 
an  important  person,  or  thought  he  was,  and  even  in 
that  office  must  not  be  snubbed.  For  a  moment,  there- 
fore, George,  the  slave  of  the  slave  of  the  copying- 
clerk  of  the  clerk  of  the  junior  partner  of  the  firm, 
reigned  at  the  head  of  the  hierarchy  in  the  outer 
room.  The  hierarchy,  however,  had  been  reduced  to 
one  person,  when  there  were  no  visitors.  George  was 
that  lowest  person  in  this  world,  who  can  give  orders 
to  no  one. 

In  a  moment  Mr.  Sennett  came  out  with  Mr.  Tan- 


10  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

gier,  talking  as  earnestly  as  they  went  in.  It  was 
clear  enough,  even  to  George,  that  the  case  was  more 
perplexing  than  the  average.  He  explained  to  his 
master,  whom  he  did  not  often  address  personally, 
how  the  other  parts  of  the  machine  were  at  work,  and 
where ;  and  then,  as  Mr.  Tangier  took  his  hat  again, 
but  turned  back  to  his  inner  office  for  his  gloves, 
George  received  at  the  door  two  foreign-looking  gen- 
tlemen, who  presented  their  cards,  which  he  took  to 
Mr.  Tangier.  That  gentleman  came  out,  with  perfect 
cordiality,  welcomed  them  both,  led  them  into  the 
inner  office,  and  again  the  door  was  shut. 

George  reigned  alone  once  more  till  the  copying- 
clerk  returned  from  his  fish-balls.  In  a  few  minutes 
more  Mr.  Heeren  came  in,  and  finding  that  the  chief 
had  shut  the  door,  took  his  seat  at  a  desk  he  had  in 
the  outer  room.  The  copying-clerk  completed  the 
letter  in  Mr.  Tangier's  handwriting,  and  then  began, 
with  a  type-writer,  on  the  regular  correspondence  of 
the  morning,  writing  from  his  short-hand  notes.  One 
and  another  visitor,  in  steady  succession,  called,  and 
made  their  appointments,  as  before.  At  half-past 
three  the  foreign  gentlemen  left. 

"George,"  said  Mr.  Tangier,  "I  am  too  late  for 
my  lunch.  Go  across  to  Hyde's  and  bid  them  send 
up  a  bowl  of  soup,  whatever  there  is,  and  a  cup  of 
coffee.  Mr.  Grace  will  be  here  before  I  can  go." 
And,  as  George  left  on  this  errand,  Mr.  Grace  came, 
was  welcomed,  and  took  his  turn  in  the  inner  office. 
When  the  waiter  from  Hyde's  came  in  with  his  tray, 
Mr.  Heeren  sent  him  back,  and  bade  him  duplicate 
the  order,  that  there  might  be  the  pretence  of  asking 
Mr.  Grace  to  join  in  this  hurried  repast. 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  11 

The  two  cups  of  coffee  and  the  two  bowls  of  soup 
were  sent  in,  and  from  that  time  forth  no  one  even 
knocked  on  the  outside  of  the  door  of  the  inner  office. 
Visitors  came  and  went.  Mr.  Heeren  soothed  them,  or 
encouraged  them,  or  postponed  them  until  to-morrow, 
or  to  a  day  certain,  or  indefinitely.  The  student  came 
in  who  had  been  at  work  all  the  morning  in  the  Eeg- 
istry  of  Deeds.  He  sat  at  his  desk,  plotting,  so  to 
speak,  the  results  of  his  investigations.  The  copying- 
clerk  copied,  in  one  fashion  or  another,  as  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  case  required.  Even  George  copied, 
also,  in  such  methods  as  he  had  acquired,  —  not  the 
best  known,  but  gradually  improving,  —  and  he  took 
such  lessons  as  were  suggested  by  the  copying-clerk. 
He  was  even  permitted  to  try  the  type-writer,  when 
the  copying-clerk  was  at  work  with  a  more  primi- 
tive instrument,  called  a  steel  pen. 

But  no  one  ever  suggested  an  appeal,  not  for  one 
moment,  to  Mr.  Tangier.  All  men  and  boys  knew 
that  Mr.  Grace  was  there  by  appointment  of  great 
significance,  and  all  boys  and  men  knew  that  Mr. 
Grace  was  making  his  will. 

At  half-past  five,  George  found  it  difficult  to  with- 
draw his  attention  from  the  window  and  the  street 
outside.  In  the  dignified  discipline  of  this  office,  he 
made  no  report  whatever  of  his  observations.  But 
even  the  copying-clerk  was  so  impressed  by  George's 
continued  study  of  outward  Nature,  that  he  was 
obliged  to  cross  the  room  to  raise  the  curtain.  And 
it  was  noticed  that,  even  to  his  jaded  eye,  the  spec- 
tacle on  which  he  looked  attracted  him  for  a  minute 
from  the  type-writer.  Even  the  student  then  found 
it  necessary  to  cross  to  that  side  of  the  room  to  take 


12  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

down  a  volume,  either  of  Crotius  or  of  Pickering,  and 
his  eye  lingered  for  a  moment  on  the  little  crowd 
without.  Mr.  Grace's  carriage  was  waiting,  as  long  as 
the  police  would  let  it  stand;  then  it  moved  slowly 
up  and  down  the  street,  and  waited  again.  A  foot- 
man in  livery  behind,  and  another  in  front  with 
the  coachman,  attracted  the  attention  of  the  news- 
boys and  other  pirates  of  the  street,  and  so  quite 
A  little  crowd  of  loafers  had  assembled  on  the  side- 


But  the  horses  pawed  without  avail,  and  the  police 
compelled  even  Mr.  Grace's  carriage  to  pass  onf  once 
and  again  ;  and  once  and  again  the  group  dispersed, 
to  form  again  when  the  carriage  stopped  again,  before, 
at  six  o'clock,  the  conference  was  over.  The  inner 
office  was  opened  to  the  sight  of  man  again,  and  Mr. 
Tangier  led  his  important  client  even  to  the  head  of 
the  stairs. 

Mr.  Grace  walked  but  slowly,  and  George  and  the 
office-boy  and  the  student  and  Mr.  Heeren  all  thought 
that  he  needed  all  the  help  Mr.  Tangier  could  offer  him, 
and  they  did  not  wonder  that  both  footmen.  helped  him 
into  the  carriage.  Indeed,  I  think  no  one  of  them 
would  have  changed  places  with  Mr.  Grace. 

George  did  wish  that  his  pay  might  be  raised  from 
three  dollars  to  three  and  a  half;  the  copying-clerk 
wished  that  his  salary,  instead  of  fifty  dollars  a  month, 
was  sixty;  the  student  hoped  that  when  the  year 
ended  Mr.  Heeren  might  make  some  offer  of  what 
should  happen  when  he  entered  at  the  bar  ;  Mr.  Hee- 
ren even  had  dreams  that,  if  Mr.  Tangier  were  obliged 
to  go  to  Europe  in  that  delicate  matter  of  the  Jef- 
freys' Trust,  the  whole  office  would  be  intrusted  to 


MR.   TANGIER'S  VACATIONS.  13 

him.  Bat  neither  George,  nor  the  copying-clerk,  nor 
the  student,  nor  Mr.  Heeren,  wished  to  change  places 
with  Mr.  Grace,  as  .Mr.  Tangier  helped  him  to  the 
stairs ;  though  Mr.  Grace  was  known,  of  all  men,  to 
have  the  most  beautiful  house  in  the  town,  a  charming 
family,  and  to  be  the  lord  of  untold  millions. 


14  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER   II. 

EiST  of  all  did  Mr.  Tangier  wish  this. 
Tired,  —  oh,  so  tired,  —  faint,  without  know- 
ing what  the  word  faint  meant,  Mr.  Tangier  turned 
back  from  the  stairway,  and  met  all  the  others  with 
an  anxious,  manufactured  smile. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  have  kept  you  all  so  late,"  said  he, 
as  he  put  on  his  gloves  to  go,  at  last.  He  looked  up 
to  the  office  clock,  as  if  he  was  personally  guilty  be- 
cause it  had  so  far  passed  five  o'clock,  which  was  the 
time  when  the  door  should  have  been  locked  behind 
them  all.  And  he  went  downstairs  and  walked  to 
the  street-car  which  was  to  take  him  to  his  pretty 
home  just  out  of  town. 

Oh,  how  tired  he  was !  Not  in  his  feet  or  legs,  but 
in  every  part  of  him  which  perceived,  or  remembered, 
or  thought,  or  hoped,  or  in  any  sort  enjoyed.  It  would 
have  been  better  for  him,  and  he  knew  it  would  have 
been  better  for  him,  to  walk  the  five  miles  which 
parted  him  from  Glendean.  But  even  for  that  he 
had  not  time.  He  knew  that  he  had  missed  the  car  ( 
which  he  relied  upon,  and  that  at  best  he  should  be 
late  for  his  dinner. 

Once  in  the  car  he  had  a  faint,  faint  hope  that  no 
one  would  know  him.  He  remembered  that  hero  of 
Hawthorne's,  who  wore  the  black  veil  in  all  horse- 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  15 

cars  of  his  day,  so  that  people  might  not  recognize 
him  and  speak  to  him.  Poor,  baited,  and  harried  Mr. 
Tangier  wished  that  he  dared  wear  such  a  protecting 
veil.  But  that  was  not  to  be.  One  of  his  neighbors 
who  had  been  away  for  mouths  took  the  next  seat, 
and  saluted  him  at  once.  Poor  Mr.  Tangier  knew 
that  he  was,  himself,  in  for  a  conversation  five  miles 
long. 

Once  more  he  braced  himself  up.  Indeed,  he  knew 
that  "there  was  no  act  of  parliament  that  he  should 
be  happy."  He  was  glad  to  see  Mr.  Curtis  looking 
so  full  in  the  face,  —  and  with  a  good  sunburnt 
coloi-, —  and  he  said  so. 

"  You  are  a  great  stranger,  Mr.  Curtis.  I  am  glad 
to  see  you  looking  so  well." 

But,  alas,  poor  Mr.  Curtis  was  not  well,  and  never 
would  be,  and  he  knew  it.  He  gave  his  hand  cor- 
dially to  the  other,  but  said  a  little  slowly,  and  with 
that  wretched  evidence  that  speaking  occurred  with 
pain  and  did  not  come  easily,  "I  —  look  —  better  — 
than  —  I  am.  Paralysis,  —  you  —  know." 

"  Indeed,  you  do  not  show  it,"  said  poor  Tangier,  as 
cheerfully  as  he  could. 

"  If  —  if  —  you  saw  me  —  saw  me  —  get  along  with- 
out my  left  hand,  or  try  —  or  try  to,  you  would  know," 
said  Mr.  Curtis,  who  seemed  determined  not  to  accept 
any  of  the  commonplace  conversations  of  every-day 
civility. 

Mr.  Tangier  was  courageous,  and  he  could  brace  up 
to  most  duties  of  society.  But  five  miles  of  symp- 
toms, and  one  story  of  failure,  was  more  than  he  dared 
to  stand,  and  when  the  car  stopped  first  he  bade  Mr. 
Curtis  good-by,  and  left  it  hastily.  He  walked  half 


16  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

across  the  town,  and  rang  the  bell  at  the  door  of  his 
life-long  friend,  his  classmate,  and  his  physician,  Mor- 
ton. To  his  joy  he  found  Morton  in,  in  a  dressing- 
jacket,  with  his  feet  on  a  foot-rest,  and  his  back  to  the 
sunset,  which  glorified  the  bay.  Morton  did  not  even 
pretend  to  rise. 

"  How  are  you,  old  fellow ! "  cried  he.  "  What  luck 
to  be  in  —  there  is  your  chair,  and  there  is  another  for 
your  feet.  No  man  ever  did  anything  worth  doing, 
with  his  feet  on  the  ground.  So  I  will  not  stand  up, 
even  for  you." 

He  put  down  the  copy  of  the  London  "  Truth,"  which 
he  was  looking  at,  and  lay  back  in  the  easy-chair,  the 
picture  of  repose. 

Mr.  Tangier  felt  the  subtle  influence  of  the  place, 
and  the  easy  manner  of  his  host,  as  his  host  meant  he 
should.  He  could  not  at  once  plunge  into  the  story  of 
his  ailments  and  worries  as  he  had  meant  to  do.  He 
sank  into  the  easy-chair  at  which  Morton  pointed,  and 
before  he  knew  it  he  was  sipping  a  cup  of  tea  which 
some  attendant  had  brought  in.  Before  he  knew  it 
again,  they  were  both  talking  Bulgarian  politics,  and 
then  discussing  Gladstone,  and  then  Morton  was  de- 
scribing Gambetta,  and  then  they  fell  back  on  some 
old  story  of  college  times.  The  spells  of  the  magician 
began  to  work,  and  when  at  seven  o'clock  Mrs.  Mor- 
ton came  in,  pretty  and  cheerful,  and  summoned  them 
to  dinner,  Tangier  found  himself  quite  alert,  ready  to 
laugh  with  her,  to  give  her  his  arm,  and  to  lead  her  in. 
A  long,  merry,  cheerful  family  dinner  followed,  and 
Mr.  Tangier  was  really  a  new  man  when,  two  hours 
after,  Mrs.  Morton  said,  "  We  shall  find  it  pleasanter 
in  the  red  parlor,"  and  led  the  way. 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS,  17 

"You  must  excuse  me,"  said  Mr.  Tangier.  "I 
should  have  been  at  my  house  two  hours  ago.  Mrs. 
Colquitt  will  scold  me  awfully,  when  I  coine.  And 
now  I  want  a  word  with  your  husband."  So  the  two 
men  went  back  to  the  doctor's  comfortable  library. 
They  sat  down  as  before;  Mr.  Tangier  declined  a 
cigar,  and  the  doctor  did  not  light  one. 

"I  did  not  come  to  dine,"  said  Tangier  at  once, 
"  and  I  did  not  mean  to  stay  ten  minutes.  I  wanted 
to  talk  to  you  again  about  my  sleep,  or  what  you 
would  call  '  insomnia.' .  Since  I  saw  you,  I  have  had 
some  new  experience."  And  at  some  length  he  went 
into  the  details  of  his  overworked  life,  his  late  meals, 
his  failing  appetite,  and  his  sleepless  nights. 

He  was  a  little  annoyed  that  Dr.  Morton  asked 
no  questions,  and  even  affected  to  be  a  little 
bored. 

When  Mr.  Tangier  had  wholly  done,  he  said,  "  And 
that  is  about  all." 

"  Yes,"  said  Morton,  "  is  it  ?  I  do  not  quite  know 
why  you  want  to  tell  it  to  me  ?  " 

"  Who  in  the  world  should  I  tell  it  to  ?  You  do  not 
suppose  I  talk  my  ailments  to  all  the  world  —  like  poor 
Curtis." 

"  No,"  said  Morton,  "  that  is  just  what  I  do  not  sup- 
pose. So  I  do  not  know  why  you  bring  them  here  — 
why  I  must  hear  them." 

"  You ! "  cried  the  other ;  "  because  you  are  my  medi- 
cal adviser.  I  have  come  to  you  for  advice.  You 
must  tell  me  how  to  get  rid  of  these  things." 

"My  dear  fellow,"  said  Morton,  "do  be  serious.  I 
am  your  friend ;  I  am  your  very  good  friend  j  but  I  am 
not  your  physician." 

2 


18  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

"  You,  not  rny  physician  !  Why  not  ?  When  did  that 
happen  ?  " 

"  I  have  not  been  your  physician  since  —  since  — 
April  28,"  and  he  looked  at  his  note-book.  "You 
came  on  the  27th,  for  advice,  much  as  you  come  now. 
I  gave  the  best  advice  I  could.  You  did  not  take  it. 
That  was  the  end.  Simply,  my  dear  fellow,  I  will 
not  be  responsible  for  a  patient  who  does  not  give  me 
his  confidence." 

"  Confidence,  my  dear  friend,"  said  Tangier,  amused 
at  the  other's  manner,  —  "I  have  absolute  confidence 
in  you.  Do  you  suppose  there  is  another  man  in  the 
country  to  whom  I  would  have  told  what  I  have  told 
to  you  ?  " 

"  No  !  perhaps  not.  But  it  is  a  confidence  of  lips. 
You  do  not  obey  me.  I  tell  you  that  you  are  killing 
yourself ;  you  laugh,  and  say  you  know  better.  I  tell 
you  to  change  your  manner  of  life.  You  go  on  just 
as  you  did  before.  If  you  were  not  a  man  of  sense, 
.1  should  say  you  really  believed  that  I  had  a  bottle 
labelled  'Health'  in  yonder,  and  had  only  to  give 
you  five  teaspoonfuls  and  you  would  be  well.  There 
is  no  such  bottle.  For  my  part,  I  will  not  have  the 
disgrace  of  being  the  medical  adviser  to  a  man  who 
will  not  obey  me.  Your  case  is  not  mine.  You  can  go 
to  any  one  else  you  like :  I  shall  not  be  wounded." 

Tangier  was  certainly  staggered  by  the  earnestness 
with  which  his  friend  spoke. 

For  two  minutes  neither  spoke. 

Then  Tangier  said,  "You  suggested  my  going  to 
Europe." 

"  Yes ;  if  you  would  go  to  Spain,  or  JSTaxos,  or  Arch- 
angel, or  somewhere  where  there  are  no  mails,  where 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  19 

your  Mr.  Heeren  would  not  be  sending  immediate  de- 
livery letters,  and  cables  a  mile  long,  after  you  every 
day." 

"  I  hate  Europe  as  a  medicine,"  said  Tangier. 

"I  should  think  you  would.  There  are  as  good 
Spains,  and  Naxoses,  and  Archangels,  within  sixty 
miles  of  you  ;  if  only  you  cut  the  wire  behind  you,  as 
they  say  Grant  did  once  —  or  was  it  Sherman  ?  " 

"  That  would  be  better,"  said  the  other.  "  Where 
shall  it  be  ?  You  shall  say." 

"  No,"  said  Morton,  "  it  shall  not  smell  of  this  shop. 
You  know  that  woman  who  said  she  thought  when  she 
was  a  child  that  asafoetida  was  the  smell  of  doctors. 
One  place  is  as  good  for  you  as  another,  so  there  is  no 
door-bell,  no  mail,  and  no  telegraph.  Give  such  or- 
ders to  your  clerk  as  you  know  how  to  give.  Go  off 
for  a  month,  and  then  come  and  see  me  again." 

"  Morton,  you  are  a  trump.  Let  me  have  to-morrow 
to  give  the  orders,  and  the  next  day  you  shall  see  me 
no  more  ! " 

And  they  parted. 


20  MR-    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER  III. 

AND  the  next  day  Mr.  Tangier  gave  the  orders. 
"He  gave  them  with  a  vengeance,"  as  the 
copying-clerk  said  to  George,  almost  in  a  whisper,  so 
overcome  with  awe  was  he. 

Mr.  Tangier  told  Mr.  Heeren  that  he  was  to  be  away 
for  a  month.  "  I  am  not  going  salmon  fishing  to  Lab- 
rador, but  it  is  just  as  if  I  were.  Nothing  is  to  be 
sent  after  me,  and  nobody.  This  is  the  29th  of  May ; 
on  the  30th  of  June  you  will  see  me.  We  will  write 
the  necessary  notes  now,  and  to-night  I  shall  bid  you 
good-by.  It  will  be  your  business  to  show  that  the 
office  can  do  just  as  well  without  me  as  with  me." 
This  he  said,  with  his  old  good-natured,  open  smile, 
which  rejoiced  Mr.  Heeren  more  than  anything 
he  had  seen  on  that  care-worn  face  for  six  weeks 
before. 

Then  Mr.  Tangier  looked  up  a  letter  from  Mrs. 
Dunster.  It  was  an  office  letter,  six  months  old.  He 
had  had  to  give  some  advice,  as  an  old  friend  of  her 
father's,  about  the  probate  of  a  will,  and  he  had  gladly 
given  it.  He  remembered  perfectly  well  that  she  had 
said,  when  she  wrote  to  thank  him,  that  if  he  ever 
wanted  to  run  away  from  noise  and  smoke,  he  had 
better  come  to  them,  and  hear  the  whippoorwills  and 
bull-frogs.  That  was  in  late  summer.  There  would 
be  no  bull-frogs  now. 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  21 

The  letter  proved  to  say  still  what  it  said  before, 
and  Mr.  Tangier  wrote  this  letter :  — 

DEAR  MRS.  DUNSTER, — The  time  has  come.  I  shall 
take  my  carpet-bag  to-morrow  and  go  into  retreat.  Please 
find  somebody  who  has  a  nice  room  for  me,  and  you  may  as 
well  not  mention  my  name.  Indeed,  I  should  be  glad  if  no 
one  knew  where  to  mail  a  letter  to  me. 
Truly  yours, 

JEFFREY  TANGIER. 

Then  Mr.  Tangier  put  this  letter  in  his  pocket.  He 
rang  for  the  railway  guide,  and  this  lay  on  his  desk 
when  the  copying-clerk  came  in  to  "  take  "  the  letters. 
Mr.  Tangier  and  Mr.  Heeren  dictated  one  hundred  and 
fourteen  letters  that  day,  explaining  that  he  was  called 
suddenly  out  of  town.  At  lunch  he  disappeared,  and 
for  one  month  the  office  saw  him  no  more. 

"  I  will  start  to-morrow  morning,"  said  Mr.  Tangier. 
He  took  his  guide  again,  and  began  the  difficult  study 
of  the  minute  and  hour  of  his  train.  The  university 
of  the  future  will  have  foundations  in  college,  to 
support  teachers  who  shall  understand  time-tables, 
and  show  young  men  how  to  use  them.  Mr.  Tangier 
had  studied  other  things,  and  worked  out  only  with 
difficulty  the  problem  before  him. 

It  was,  in  his  case,  specially  complicated.  He  lived 
so  far  out  of  town  that,  as  he  well  knew,  he  could 
more  easily  strike  the  local  station  of  the  Cattaraugus 
road  than  go  into  the  city  and  start  from  the  great 
central  terminus.  He  knew  perfectly  well  that  to 
make  his  connections  in  the  interior  he  must  take 
the  early  train  out  of  town.  He  did  not  know 
whether,  or  if,  or  how,  the  local  station  would  ac- 
commodate him. 


22  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

He  began,  as  he  always  did,  by  study  on  the  wrong 
side  of  the  page.  After  he  had  made  one  or  two 
memoranda,  which  he  himself  could  not  reconcile,  he 
found  he  was  reading  down  where  he  should  be  read- 
ing up,  and  that  he  must  find  another  set  of  columns. 
Here  time  did  go  forward  and  not  backward,  as  it  had 
seemed  before.  And  here,  accordingly,  he  found,  as 
he  had  feared,  that  the  early  train  out  of  town  ran  as 
an  express  for  thirty  miles,  and  that  he  could  not 
take  it  at  his  station. 

His  next  affair  then  was  to  see  what  train,  yet  ear- 
lier, would  take  him  up  to  Wentworth  Junction  — 
the  Suez  of  his  part  of  the  world  —  where  every 
traveller,  from  every  quarter  of  that  world,  changed 
his  train  for  another  train,  at  certain  hours  pre- 
ordained. 

Clear  it  was,  now,  that  other  people  lived  who  had 
his  necessities.  Early  as  was  the  early  express,  there 
was  a  local  train  still  earlier.  "  These  people  under- 
stand their  business,"  said  Mr.  Tangier,  not  displeased. 
"I  am  not  the  only  man  who  has  done  this  thing." 
Till  this  moment  he  had  supposed  he  was,  —  so  mad 
indeed,  as  it  seemed  to  him,  was  the  rising,  almost 
with  the  sun,  to  go  on  this  visit  to  an  unknown  region, 
to  try  this  strange  adventure  with  these  unknown 
friends. 

But  he  was  determined.  From  the  moment  when 
he  gave  his  word  to  Morton,  this  thing  was  sure. 
Midnight  or  sunrise,  he  would  start  when  the  fates 
directed.  Nor  did  he  even  congratulate  himself  that 
they  had  decided  on  sunrise  rather  than  midnight. 

He  hunted  up  a  peculiar  portmanteau,  which  still 
bore  the  custom-house  permit  of  his  last  landing  from 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  23 

Europe,  and  which  he  had  not  seen  since  the  day  it 
took  in  the  last  waifs  and  strays  from  his  state-room  on 
the  "  Germanic."  He  opened  it ;  and  there  still  lay,  in 
the  bottom  of  it,  the  card  of  that  Colorado  cattle-man 
he  used  to  walk  the  deck  with.  He  remembered  grim- 
ly how  he  had  sunk  half  an  hour  in  hunting  among 
his  papers  for  this  man's  address.  Here  it  was. 

He  packed,  or  thought  he  packed.  He  wound  up  his 
watch,  and  it  was  after  midnight.  This  was  the  be- 
ginning, then,  of  his  obedience  to  Morton's  instruc- 
tions, and  of  securing  regular  sleep  by  beginning  to 
undress  at  half-past  nine.  He  knew  he  must  be  out 
of  bed  at  quarter-past  five.  Five  hours'  sleep  was 
to  be  the  beginning  of  Morton's  new  regimen  for 
sleeping. 

But  the  machine  did  its  duty.  By  that  mysterious 
law,  which  nobody  yet  understands,  he  woke  at  quarter- 
past  five,  just  so  far  as  to  pull  out  his  watch  from  his 
pillow  and  to  strike  it.  "  Five  and  a  quarter,"  said  the 
faithful  slave,  just  as  the  faithful  machine  made  up 
of  nerve,  and  sinew,  and  bone,  had  said ;  and  in  new 
wonder  at  that  miracle  of  consent,  Mr.  Tangier  kicked 
off  the  bed-clothes.  He  stood  erect  and  said  aloud, — 

"  The  faithful  Donjon  clock  had  numbered  two, 
And  Wallace  tower  had  sworn  the  tale  was  true." 

He  staggered  across  to  the  pitcher  and  bowl.  He 
sponged  his  head  with  the  sharp,  cold  water  which 
stood  ready,  and  the  happy  moment  of  morning  om- 
nipotence began. 

"Fortune  favors  the  brave,"  he  said,  almost  aloud, 
as  he  let  the  door  swing  behind  him,  and  with  his 
little  hand-bag  stepped  out  into  the  delicious  morning 
air.  He  had  let  the  housekeeper  make  him  a  cup  of 


24  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

coffee  and  a  bit  of  toast,  but  he  was  rather  a  convert 
to  French  fashions,  and  he  had  meant  not  to  take  his 
proper  breakfast  until  he  arrived  at  Tenterdon.  Ten- 
terdon  was  the  oasis  hidden  away  in  the  desert,  yet 
not  so  far  from  the  ocean,  where  lived  Mrs.  Dunster, 
who  was  the  only  person  in  the  world  who  had  his 
secret. 

"  Fortune  favors  the  brave,"  he  said,  for  he  really 
felt  as  if  this  exquisite  sweetness  of  perfume,  this 
softness  yet  exhilaration  in  the  air,  and  the  mist 
just  doubting  whether  it  would  stay  or  go,  were  all 
one  special  gift,  manufactured  for  him  exclusively  by 
the  good  powers  to  whom  the  fortunes  of  his  section 
of  the  world  were  intrusted.  Then  he  saw  a  young 
fellow  who  was  hurrying  to  his  street-car  that  he 
might  be  at  his  post  in  time,  and  Mr.  Tangier  remem- 
bered that  that  young  man  rose  at  this  hour  every 
morning.  Perhaps  he  thought  the  revelation  of  sun 
and  sky,  and  gracious  mist,  and  fragrant  air,  was  all 
for  him.  Perhaps  it  was.  Or,  more  probably,  it  was 
for  both  of  them,  and  for  that  woman  yonder  also, 
who  had  been  "  watching  "  all  night  with  poor  Mrs. 
Doubleday,  and  had  now  been  relieved  by  the  day 
nurse.  Perhaps  it  was  for  all  of  them. 

But  Mr.  Tangier  met  but  few  nurses  relieved,  or 
clerks  beginning.  He  was  just  too  early  even  for  the 
seven-o'clock  people.  In  the  city  where  he  was  a 
slave,  the  different  work-people  might  have  been  di- 
vided in  classes,  as  they  began  at  seven  o'clock,  at 
eight  o'clock,  at  nine  o'clock,  or  at  ten.  He  had  always 
been  one  of  the  nine-o'clock  kind.  Now  that  he  had 
emancipated  himself,  he  was  in  action  even  before  the 
seven-o'clocks,  and  those  of  them  who  lived  in  his 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  25 

pretty  Rosedean  had  to  be  on  the  alert  at  six,  or  a 
little  after.  It  was  not  long  after  five  o'clock  now ; 
and  here  was  Mr.  Tangier  wondering,  and  philoso- 
phizing a  little,  on  that  daily  waste  of  beauty  and 
ecstasy  of  life  which  for  Rosedean  let  the  sun,  and 
the  sky,  and  the  wind,  and  the  mists,  and  the  birds, 
and  the  trees  set  the  scene  every  morning  for  a  cele- 
bration which  so  few  people  of  the  human  variety 
chose  to  look  upon.  All  the  more,  however,  did  Mr. 
Tangier  enjoy  the  spectacle,  now  that  he  was  the 
principal  actor. 

Queer  enough,  —  and  he  noted  the  queerness  as  he 
walked,  and  wondered  that  the  long  rays  of  the  sun 
in  the  morning  look  as  they  do  in  the  evening,  —  the 
thing  he  was  reminded  of  most  was,  not  another 
morning  like  this,  but  a  simulated  morning  at  the 
opera.  He  had  to  feel  for  the  name  of  an  exhilarated 
tenor,  whom  he  remembered  as  the  curtain  rose  for 
"  Somnambula ; "  he  remembered  the  way  the  stage 
was  set  for  sunrise,  and  the  gayety  of  the  tenor  as 
he  stepped  down  from  the  back  to  the  footlights,  and 
sang,  — 

"  Behold  how  brightly  breaks  the  morning." 

And  again  Mr.  Tangier  philosophized  a  little. 

It  was  queer  that  he  should  have  seen  the  sun  rise 
at  the  theatre  more  often  than  he  had  seen  it  in  the 
sky! 

He  had  a  walk  of  half  an  hour,  and  then  he  found 
that  he  had  studied  his  Pathfinder  so  ill,  and  that  he 
had  allowed  so  extravagantly  for  one  delay  and  an- 
other which  had  not  taken  place,  that  the  station- 
house  was  not  open.  Nay !  great  advertisements  of 


26  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

the  trains  made  it  clear  that  he  need  not  go  by  that 
early  "  succursale,"  or  train  of  supply,  but  that  the 
great  through  express  would,  after  all,  pause  on  the 
wing,  in  its  majestic  flight,  to  clutch  so  worthy  though 
so  slight  an  atom  as  Mr.  Tangier.  Apparently  he  was 
to  spend  some  thirty-five  minutes  sitting  or  standing 
on  the  steps  of  the  station-house. 

No !  it  was  not  so  written.  And  Mr.  Tangier,  who 
was  learning  many  lessons,  now  learned  one  which 
served  him  well  through  all  his  vacation.  Clearly 
enough,  this  suburb  was  astir,  though  his  lovely  Rose- 
dean  was  asleep.  In  three  minutes  all  was  changed. 
The  ill-tempered  station-master  appeared,  a  minute 
late;  it  was  because  he  was  late  that  he  was  ill- 
natured.  In  a  few  minutes  more,  the  first  of  the  in- 
going trains  appeared,  and  to  feed  it,  men  seemed  to 
spring  out  of  the  ground,  each  with  a  tin  lunch-pail 
in  his  hand.  It  passed,  and  Mr.  Tangier  was  alone 
again,  with  the  station-master. 

And  now  it  was,  that  he  learned  that  that  French 
cup  of  coffee,  with  its  slice  of  toast,  was  but  a  faint 
stay  for  a  man  who  walked  in  fresh  morning  air  two 
miles,  and  had  eighty  more  miles  before  him.  So  he 
asked,  a  little  crestfallen,  of  a  stray  lad  who  appeared 
with  a  lunch-pail,  whether  there  was  any  place  where 
he  could  find  breakfast. 

"Porter's,  of  course,"  said  the  other,  as  he  might 
have  suggested  the  pump,  had  Mr.  Tangier  asked  for 
water. 

"  Porter's ! "  He  had  hardly  thought  of  the  place 
since  they  drove  across  in  triumph,  to  have  their 
Sophomore  class  supper  there ! 

Could  it  have  looked  quite  as  dingy  and  snuffy  then? 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  27 

No  matter  for  looks.  He  was  on  the  quest  for  ad- 
ventures, as  Amadis  might  have  been,  and  here  was 
adventure  number  one.  This  was  his  enchanted  castle, 
and  he  passed  in. 

The  damsel  he  discovered  was  not  interesting  to 
the  eye,  but  when  he  asked  for  breakfast,  his  question 
was  taken  as  the  question  of  a  fool  might  have  been. 
Why  else  should  they  all  be  out  of  their  beds,  indeed, 
but  to  prepare  breakfast  for  anybody  who  wanted  it, 
—  for  him,  if  he  chose  to  come,  and  for  fifty  others 
as  good  as  he  ? 

No  one  said  this  in  words  to  Mr.  Tangier,  but  this 
was  the  lesson  he  learned. 

That  is  to  say,  it  was  not  till  one  of  the  damsels 
he  found,  not  very  tidy  of  dress  nor  over-attractive 
to  the  eye,  ordered  him  to  a  seat  at  a  table  where  sat 
some  others,  among  seven  other  tables,  at  each  of 
which  eight  men  were  sitting,  —  it  was  not  till  then 
that  it  fairly  dawned  on  him,  on  this  morning,  that 
his  early  rising  was  not  a  thing  utterly  exceptional 
and  extraordinary. 

But  here  were  sixty  other  people,  at  an  insignificant 
wayside  inn,  who  had  risen  as  early  as  he. 

And,  besides  these,  that  morning  train  had  taken 
into  town  five  hundred  others,  many  of  whom  had 
risen  earlier. 

In  a  minute  more,  he  had  another  lesson  taught 
him. 

It  was,  that  quite  as  good  provision  was  made  for 
these  people's  comfort  as  he  was  used  to  have  for  his 
own,  though  it  came  in  different  forms. 

His  plate  was  heavy,  but  it  was  clean. 

His  napkin  was  coarse,  but  it  was  clean. 


28  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

The  tumbler  at  his  side  was  of  pressed  glass,  but  it 
was  clean. 

In  thirty  seconds  the  un-beautiful  damsel  had 
brought  him  a  steak  which  was  perfect,  a  baked  po- 
tato which  was  perfect,  two  or  three  forms  of  bread 
which  were  perfect.  She  brought  him  a  cup,  which 
could  have  been  fired  from  a  cannon  without  being 
broken ;  but  the  coffee  in  it  was  better  than  had  been 
given  him  at  home,  —  better  than  Hyde's  people  had 
sent  to  him  and  Mr.  Grace  the  day  before. 

The  lesson  which  Mr.  Tangier  learned  was,  that  he 
had  better  thank  God  that  he  was  not  alone  in  the 
world,  but  that  he  was  one  of  the  People,  and  to  thank 
God  also  that  the  People  had  very  much  its  own  way. 

He  could  not  but  remember,  as  the  un-beautiful  girl 
slammed  his  breakfast  down  on  the  table  before  him, 
that  at  Hyde's,  where  they  would  have  served  it  ele- 
gantly in  china,  they  would  have  served  it  cold,  after 
he  had  waited  twenty  minutes.  The  first  memoran- 
dum he  was  to  make  in  his  vacation  note-book  was 
to  be:  "The  People  will  not  stand  nonsense." 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  29 


CHAPTER  IV. 

NO,  Mr.  Tangier  did  not  take  a  parlor-car.  He 
always  had  ridden  in  one  since  they  were  in- 
vented, but  now  he  was  afraid  that  some  one  would 
recognize  him,  and  he  had  not  that  convenient  black 
veil  which  has  already  been  alluded  to.  He  took  his 
seat  beside  a  lonely  woman  in  what  is  called  a  first- 
class  car,  and  once  more,  as  he  found  himself  so  com- 
fortable there,  he  reflected,  as  he  had  done  at  breakfast, 
that  the  public  in  this  country  had  found  out  very 
nearly  what  it  wanted,  and  was  quite  sure  in  the  long 
run  to  obtain  it.  He  did  not  take  his  seat  where  there 
was  an  empty  seat  beside  him,  because  he  was  haunted 
with  the  terror  that  some  bummer  would  come  along 
and  cry  out,  enthusiastically,  "  Why,  Tangier,  are  you 
here  ? "  and  would  sit  down  by  him  to  entertain  and 
to  be  entertained  for  seventy  miles. 

Yes,  Mr.  Tangier,  you  are  very  skilful,  but  all  the 
same  this  world  is  a  world  of  give  and  take,  and  you 
have  your  part  to  bear  in  it. 

So  soon  as  Mr.  Tangier  had  read,  from  the  first  page 
to  the  eighth,  and  from  the  eighth  back  to  the  first, 
his  copy  of  the  "  Iris,"  —  which  was  the  newspaper  he 
bought  simply  because  he  never  saw  it  when  he  was 
at  home,  —  the  woman  by  whom  he  sat,  whom  he  had 
selected  as  his  barrier  against  conversation,  herself 
addressed  him.  He  was  caught  in  his  own  trap,  but 


30  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

that  was  not  the  figure  which  occurred  to  him.  He 
said  to  himself  that  it  was  like  the  ass  speaking  to 
Balaam,  only  in  a  topsy-turvy  of  his  Scripture,  the 
poor  man  felt  as  if  he  was  the  ass.  "  Can  you  tell 
me,"  said  the  woman,  in  a  dialect  which  showed  that 
she  was  born  in  Germany,  "can  you  tell  me  if  this 
car  will  go  through  to  Milwaukee,  or  where  shall  I 
have  to  change  ?  " 

Milwaukee  ! 

It  was  more  than  a  thousand  miles  away,  if  Mr. 
Tangier  understood  the  geography  of  his  country  at 
all,  and  here  was  this  poor  woman  who  was  to  ride 
day  and  night  till  she  came  there. 

And  so  the  law  of  give  and  take  asserted  itself,  and 
our  friend,  who  just  now  wanted  to  be  alone,  and  had 
tried  to  separate  himself  from  his  kind,  forgot  such 
wants,  in  his  curiosity  to  know  why  this  forlorn  woman 
was  going  to  a  place  she  knew  nothing  about,  in  a 
train  of  which  she  knew  nothing.  Before  he  knew  it, 
he  was  the  questioner  and  she  was  answering.  Grad- 
ually there  unfolded  all  the  romance  about  the  sick 
husband,  and  the  little  ones  left  behind  at  their  grand- 
father's in  Nova  Scotia ;  and  then  it  proved,  for  the 
first  time,  that  those  two  excellent  little  children  who 
had  met  Mr.  Tangier's  approval  already,  because  they 
sat  so  quietly  on  the  seat  in  front  of  him,  turning  over 
the  picture-books  with  which  they  were  provided,  be- 
longed to  the  lone  woman's  caravan.  She  was  leading 
them  across  this  desert  because  the  father  had  typhoid 
fever  in  Milwaukee,  and  she  must  go  and  nurse  him. 

So  was  it,  that  when  the  lightning  express  drew  up 
for  the  first  time  at  Wentworth,  where  Mr.  Tangier 
was  to  leave  it  after  his  seventy  miles'  run,  he  had 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  31 

his  hands  full  of  telegrams  to  this  man,  and  that,  and 
another,  by  whose  various  offices  he  thought  he  could 
make  her  transfer  simpler  when  she  arrived  at  Mil- 
waukee. He  was  not  satisfied  until  he  had  provided 
her  and  the  children  with  some  extra  refinements  for 
the  luncheons  which,  as  he  foresaw,  they  would  have 
to  devour  before  their  thousand  miles'  ride  was  over. 

The  lightning  train  went  on  its  way,  and  now  he 
was  left  to  inquire  where  he  was,  and  what  was  to 
come  next  in  the  comparative  loneliness  of  Wentworth 
Junction. 

There  were  the  various  buggies,  carryalls,  and  old- 
fashioned  stage-coaches  which  were  to  be  expected  at 
such  a  place ;  but  to  none  of  them  did  he  belong,  as  he 
knew,  and  none  of  them  belonged  to  him.  He  placed 
himself  in  a  favorable  position  to  see  aud  to  be  seen, 
and  was  accosted,  as  he  expected,  after  a  minute,  by 
an  overgrown  boy  who  showed  him  a  card  on  which 
his  own  name  was  written,  and  said,  with  some  hesita- 
tion, "  Be  you  this  man  ?  "  Mr.  Tangier  said  he  was ; 
and  the  boy  signified  by  a  gesture  that  he  was  the 
person  who  was  to  take  him  to  his  new  home.  Mr. 
Tangier  had  sent  on  by  express  the  trunk  which  held 
his  books  and  the  most  of  those  earthly  possessions 
with  which  he  was  to  solace  himself  at  Tenterdon,  so 
that  a  light  carpet-bag  made  the  sum  of  his  impedi- 
ments now.  He  was  able,  without  delay,  to  join  his 
guide  in  the  carriage  provided.  Here,  again,  he  found 
a  woman  sitting, — this  time  a  young  woman.  She 
explained,  briefly  enough,  that  she  was  the  niece  of 
Mrs.  Fairbanks,  at  whose  house  our  friend  had  taken 
his  quarters.  It  would  appear  that  she  had  come  over 
with  the  overgrown  boy  for  the  purpose  of  supplying 


32  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

any  brains  which  might  be  needed  iu  the  enterprise, 
and  from  a  certain  fear  that  he  had  not  at  command 
any  over-provision  of  intelligence.  As  it  happened, 
her  service  had  not  been  needed;  but  Mr.  Tangier 
knew  enough  of  the  exigencies  of  such  an  occasion 
to  know  that  she  had  not  been  wrong  in  thinking  that 
such  exigencies  might  arise. 

The  country  from  Wentworth  to  Tenterdon  is  not, 
in  itself,  singularly  picturesque.  But  the  wind  was  in 
the  southwest,  the  trees  were  just  beginning  to  grow 
green,  the  earlier  wild  cherries  were  just  going  out  of 
blossom,  the  earlier  peach-trees  in  an  occasional  farm- 
er's orchard  were  just  in  their  glory,  a  few  straggling 
apple-blossoms  were  showing  their  color,  there  was  no 
dust  in  the  road,  and  to  poor  Mr.  Tangier  the  whole 
was  heaven.  He  did  not  care  to  talk ;  he  did  not  care 
to  listen.  He  did  not  object  to  talk,  and  he  did  not 
object  to  listen.  His  companion  was  in  much  the  same 
mood,  apparently.  She  was  probably  a  good  deal  more 
afraid  of  him  than  he  was  of  her.  Sometimes  he  asked 
a  question  about  a  bridge,  or  a  pond,  or  a  mill,  and 
then  she  gave,  sensibly  enough,  a  bit  of  local  history. 
Her  voice  had  been  spoiled  in  some  public  school,  as 
far  as  a  public  school  can  spoil  a  voice,  so  that  she 
talked  on  a  strained,  high,  and  generally  unnatural 
key-note.  But  Mr.  Tangier  knew  men  and  women 
enough  not  to  be  surprised  at  this.  Indeed,  in  the 
luxury  of  freedom,  leaving  his  prison  cell  now  for  the 
first  time  in  eleven  months,  he  would  have  talked 
good-naturedly  to  a  chimpanzee,  or  to  a  gorilla,  or, 
with  equal  good-nature,  he  would  have  let  the  chim- 
panzee or  the  gorilla  alone. 

The  house  proved  to  be  a  comfortable  old  palace, 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  33 

of  the  days  when  some  sort  of  business  was  profitable 
in  Tenterdon  which  is  not  profitable  now.  Privateer- 
ing, perhaps,  or  the  East  Indian  trade,  or  the  North- 
western trade,  —  quien  sale  ?  as  our  Spanish  friends 
say,  and  why  should  Mr.  Tangier  care  ?  Enough  that 
in  those  prosperous  days,  some  prosperous  year  had 
been  made  cheerful  for  Tenterdou,  as  the  King  Log 
or  King  Stork  of  the  town,  in  that  day,  bade  men 
cut  pines  and  oaks  on  the  Lebanon  of  the  neighbor- 
hood, rough-hew  them  to  their  will,  and  build  for 
him  this  comfortable  home  of  six  square  rooms  on 
each  floor,  with  two  or  three  more  in  an  "L,"  and 
bade  them  make  the  whole  to  be  three  stories  high. 
"  Twenty-four  large  rooms,  you  see,  Mr.  Tangier,"  said 
the  rather  pensive  Mrs.  Fairbanks,  who  was  to  be  the 
hostess  of  our  friend,  as  she  showed  him  to  his  own 
apartments,  "  besides  the  entry  rooms,  as  we  call 
them."  The  pensive  air  intimated,  what  Mrs.  Fair- 
banks did  not  say,  that  the  old  Satrap  who  built  the 
house  had  added  at  least  ten  rooms  for  the  single  pur- 
pose of  making  trouble  for  her.  But  she  did  not  yet 
know  Mr.  Tangier  well  enough  to  launch  on  that  broad 
subject,  —  the  difficulty  of  dusting  these  various  rooms 
in  summer,  and  keeping  them  in  order.  For  him,  he 
hardly  listened.  There  was  a  large  room  for  him  to 
"  sit  and  write  in,"  as  she  said.  There  was  one  equally 
large  for  him  to  sleep  in.  His  trunk,  with  the  essen- 
tials of  his  estate,  real  and  personal,  arrived  before 
dinner-time,  and  Mr.  Tangier  had  soon  made  those 
personal  arrangements  of  the  rooms  by  which  he  knew 
that  he  should  be  comfortable  in  this  new  castle. 

For  the  afternoon  of  the  day  of  his  arrival  —  yes, 
and  for  most  of  the  next  day  —  the  poor  man  had  no 

3 


34  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

wish  to  do  a  thing.  He  roused  himself  up  to  write 
Mr.  Heeren  a  note  about  something  which  he  had  for- 
gotten. Then,  as  soon  as  the  mail-driver  had  passed, 
carrying  the  few  letters  of  the  office  to  Knox,  which 
was  the  distributing  office,  Mr.  Tangier  remembered 
something  much  more  important  which  had  been  for- 
gotten. But  these  were  only  little  gusts  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  still  sea  of  his  day.  The  old  Satrap  who 
had  built  the  castle  had  made  no  piazzas  to  it.  But 
Mr.  Tangier  had  discovered  a  lee  side  t&  it,  which  had 
evidently  been  discovered  by  other  explorers.  For  in 
this  lee  side  of  the  old  house  was  an  iron  staple  driven, 
and  not  far  away  was  a  post  driven,  and,  so  soon  as 
Rachel  Fairbanks  saw  that  Mr.  Tangier  had  discovered 
it,  she  produced  a  Mexican  hammock,  -v^ich  proved  to 
fit  the  distance  between  the  post  and  the  staple.  And 
to  this  hammock  Mr.  Tangier  betook  himself.  On  the 
ground  under  him  there  lay  the  "  Philadelphia  Ameri- 
can," the  London  "  Weekly  Times,"  and  the  last  "  Re- 
vue des  Deux  Mondes ; "  and,  even  to  himself,  Mr. 
Tangier  pretended  he  was  reading.  But  when  that 
night  the  Recording  Angel  posted  in  the  Reading 
Ledger  the  amount  which  Mr.  Tangier  had  really  read 
that  day,  — lo !  it  was  not  so  much  as  Jean  Campbell 
had  read  in  "  Deestrict  Number  10  School-house  "  hard 
by.  Now  Jean  Campbell  was  only  five  years  old,  and 
was  by  no  means  sure  of  all  her  letters. 

No;  poor  Mr.  Tangier  still  felt  as  he  felt  that 
evening  after  drawing  Mr.  Grace's  will.  He  felt  a 
good  deal  as  a  bloom  of  iron  feels  after  it  has  been 
pounded  on  the  top  and  pounded  on  the  bottom  by  a 
hammer  weighing  five  hundred  thousand  million  tons, 
and  then  has  been  pounded  on  the  right  side  and 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  35 

pounded  on  the  left,  and  then  has  had  each  corner 
turned  up  skilfully  by  the  ingenious  workman,  so 
that  it  may  be  finished  off  by  being  pounded  four 
times  more. 

But  youth,  and  time,  and  the  hour,  and  sunlight, 
and  a  southwest  wind,  and  the  good  God  who  man- 
ages all  these,  in  his  love  of  men,  will  bring  all  things 
round  if  one  will  wait.  And  so  it  happened  that  on 
the  evening  of  his  second  day  in  Tenterdon,  — thanks 
also  to  good  coffee,  and  a  good  omelet,  and  a  good 
steak  at  breakfast,  thanks  to  good  roast  mutton  and  a 
good  apple  pudding  at  dinner,  thanks  to  a  brisk  horse- 
back ride  in  the  afternoon,  thanks  to  a  tea  made  up 
of  a  dozen  achievements  of  Mrs.  Fairbanks  and  of 
Kachel  Fairbanks,  for  which  no  language  known  to 
Mr.  Tangier  had  names,  —  thanks  to  all  these,  as  he 
sat  on  the  stoop  of  the  castle,  just  as  the  sun  went 
down,  Mr.  Tangier  began  to  remember  his  duties  to 
mankind. 

He  had  not  yet  gone  near  to  his  kind  correspondent, 
Mrs.  Dunster,  who  had  opened  for  him  the  gates  of 
this  paradise  of  rest;  and  she,  sainted  woman,  had 
not  come  near  him. 

But  he  knew  where  she  lived.  The  house  had  been 
pointed  out  to  him  by  Rachel  as  they  came  from  the 
station. 

So  Mr.  Tangier  determined  that  he  would  make  his 
duty-call,  and  express  his  thanks  in  the  gray  twilight ; 
and  he  sauntered  along  the  pretty  village  street,  and 
turned  up  the  avenue,  not  too  carefully  tended,  to  her 
house.  Just  as  he  came  to  the  door,  Mrs.  Dunster  her- 
self appeared,  dressed  for  a  walk,  but  she  offered  at 
once  to  turn  :ack  with  him.  On  the  instant,  he  fell- 


36  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

that  he  should  not  have  recognized  her,  but  she  knew 
him  without  difficulty.  The  truth  probably  was  that 
she  had  been  expecting  him  all  day. 

He  declined  her  invitation  to  return,  and  said  he 
would  walk  with  her  wherever  she  was  going. 

But  she  urged  her  proposal.  "  Indeed,  it  is  of  no 
sort  of  consequence,"  she  said.  "  I  was  only  going  to 
our  week-day  meeting." 

"  And  why  should  not  I  go  to  the  week-day  meet- 
ing ?  "  said  he,  laughing.  "  Or  is  it  one  of  those  mys- 
terious '  mothers'  meetings '  which  excite  men  to  such 
frenzies  of  curiosity  because  they  are  not  permitted 
to  attend?" 

Mrs.  Dunster  had  recovered  herself  by  this  time, 
and  had  sense  enough  to  be  ashamed  of  what  she  had 
said  before.  She  mended  it  now  as  well  as  she  could. 

"  There  is  every  reason  why  you  should  go  ;  only,  to 
be  frank  with  you,  young  men  do  not  generally  show 
much  enthusiasm  about  attending  prayer-meetings." 

Mr.  Tangier,  just  turning  thirty,  was  not  above  the 
delicate  flattery  which  classed  him  with  young  men. 
Perhaps  he  would  have  gone  to  the  conference  meet- 
ing simply  from  courtesy  to  Mrs.  Dunster,  who  was 
his  hostess  in  Tenterdon,  —  perhaps  it  would  have  been 
so.  "What  is  certain  is,  that  he  determined  at  that  mo- 
ment to  go.  He  was  with  these  people  for  a  month  ; 
he  would  enter  into  their  life,  and  live  as  they  lived. 
This  was  the  social  institution  provided  for  the  occa- 
sion, and  it  should  be  his  as  well  as  theirs. 

He  did  not  pretend  that  he  was  in  the  habit  of  at- 
tending such  meetings.  He  knew  perfectly  well  that 
he  heard  the  minister,  every  Sunday,  make  appoint- 
ments for  them,  and  that  such  appointments  never 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  37 

stirred  a  fibre  of  his  memory  or  took  three  words  on 
the  white  paper  of  his  tickler. 

It  was  a  pleasant  walk  to  the  vestry  of  the  pretty 
little  meeting-house.  They  loitered  as  they  went.  It 
was  clear  enough  that  there  was  no  enthusiastic  rush 
in  the  neighborhood  of  attendants  thronging  to  the 
meeting.  A  boy,  a  little  inefficient,  was  lighting  some 
kerosene  lamps  which  smoked,  and  which  were,  in- 
deed, but  a  poor  substitute  for  the  splendor  of  the 
evening  glow  outside.  There  were  but  one  or  two 
people  in  the  room.  Mrs.  Dunster  introduced  her 
companion  to  them,  and  they  sat  talking  of  trifles 
while  a  few  more  dropped  in.  At  last  the  wheels  of 
a  wagon  were  heard  rattling  without,  and  in  a  mo- 
ment Mr.  Burdett,  the  minister  who  was  to  conduct 
the  meeting,  appeared.  In  a  few  minutes  more  he 
took  his  place  at  the  reading-desk,  asked  God's  bless- 
ing, and  proposed  a  hymn.  Mrs.  Dunster  played  the 
tune  at  a  wretched,  wheezing  little  melodeon,  and  the 
people  all  sang,  timidly  at  first,  but  with  more  spirit 
as  they  went  on.  Then  he  gave  out  another  hymn, 
and  another,  and  the  singing  was  better  with  each 
hymn.  Mr.  Tangier  himself  had  a  good  enough  bari- 
tone voice,  a  good  ear,  and  sang  correctly.  Mr.  Bur- 
dett had  a  singularly  rich  and  clear  tenor.  Women 
generally  sing  better  than  men,  at  such  places,  and, 
as  each  hymn  was  finished,  they  all  passed  to  another 
with  more  spirit  and  more. 

Then  Mr.  Burdett  read  two  or  three  Psalms  and  a 
passage  from  the  Gospel,  sympathetically,  and  as  if 
he  loved  it,  and  then  led  them  all  in  prayer  simple, 
natural,  and  true.  He  sat  a  moment  with  his  head 
resting  on  his  hand;  and  then,  in  the  same  simple 


38  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

way,  as  if  he  were  in  his  own  home  talking  to  his 
wife  and  children  of  something  which  had  interested 
him,  spoke  of  the  hopeful  feeling  which  bubbled  out 
from  the  words  he  had  read,  and  drew  the  analogy 
between  this  feeling  and  the  sense  of  joy  which 
he  had  felt  as  he  drove  across,  in  the  sunset,  from 
his  own  home.  It  seemed  that  this  home  was  at 
Warner,  some  five  miles  away.  He  spoke  perhaps 
four  or  five  minutes,  not  as  if  he  were  forced  to,  but 
as  if  he  wanted  to.  Then  he  sat  still.  Every  one  sat 
still.  Mr.  Tangier  was  so  unused  to  conference  meet- 
ings that  he  did  not  know  but  people  were  expected  to 
sit  still.  For  his  own  part,  he  had  been  sitting  still 
all  day,  and  he  would  be  glad  to  sit  still  all  night. 

But  this  was  not  the  plan.  After  a  minute  or  two 
of  serene  silence,  Mr.  Burdett  rose  and  said,  "  Brother 
Beecham,  will  you  lead  in  prayer  ?  " 

Brother  Beecham  rose,  and  offered  what  he  would 
have  called  a  prayer.  But  to  Mr.  Tangier  it  seemed 
as  if  there  was  but  little  heart  in  the  words,  as  if  he 
had  himself  heard  them  before,  as  if  Brother  Beecham 
had  committed  them  to  memory  to  use  when  he  was 
asked  to.  In  a  word,  poor  Mr.  Tangier  was  conscious 
that  he  was  not  praying,  but  criticising,  and  he  was 
very  glad  when  Mr.  Beecham  sat  down.  Then  Mr. 
Burdett  read  another  hymn,  and  they  sang ;  he  gave 
another,  and  they  sang  it  better.  Then,  to  Mr.  Tan- 
gier's surprise,  Mr.  Beecham  rose  and  delivered  quite 
an  address.  It  had  nothing  to  do  with  hopefulness,  — 
it  was  rather  in  a  vein  of  despondency,  with  a  tone 
of  wrath.  It  was  devoted,  first  to  abusing  the  people 
of  the  village  who  had  not  come  to  the  conference, 
and  then  to  abusing  those  who  did  come.  For  Mr. 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  89 

Beecham  said  that  if  those  who  caine  would  speak, 
and  make  the  meetings  interesting, — and  he  put  the 
accent  on  the  second  e,  as  if  that  had  something  to  do 
with  it,  —  the  others  would  attend.  For  his  part,  he 
did  not  wonder  that  they  stayed  away. 

Mr.  Tangier  had  not  had  the  slightest  idea  of  join- 
ing in  the  conversation  of  the  evening.  He  was  a 
stranger,  and  it  had  not  occurred  to  him  that  any  man 
or  woman  was  to  talk,  as  a  duty.  But  he  did  not 
mean  to  have  the  people  round  him  abused.  And  so 
he  said,  very  frankly  and  simply,  that  for  his  own 
part  he  had  particularly  enjoyed  the  silence ;  that  he 
thought  there  was  far  too  much  talking  in  the  world, 
of  the  machine  kind ;  and  that,  especially  in  matters 
of  religion,  the  less  that  was  said  of  that  sort  the 
better.  "  I  suppose  we  come  here,"  said  he  very 
quietly,  "  to  listen  to  God,  and  to  know  what  He  may 
have  to  say  to  us.  Surely  our  friends  the  Quakers 
are  right  in  thinking  that  we  may  hear  Him  better 
when  there  is  no  other  talking." 

Mr.  Tangier  did  not  mean  to  say  anything.  But  he 
was  wholly  used  to  addressing  assemblies  much  larger 
than  Mr.  Burdett's  conference  meeting,  and  he  felt 
only  more  at  ease  the  moment  he  was  on  his  feet.  As 
soon  as  he  sat  down,  a  lady  behind  him,  with  a  rich, 
full  contralto  voice  began  to  sing,  — 

"  Lord,  dismiss  us  with  Thy  blessing," 

and  after  this,  whether  Mr.  Burdett  wished  it  or  not, 
he  had  to  dismiss  the  little  assembly. 

Mr.  Tangier  and  Mrs.  Dunster  had  a  word  with  him. 
He  then  released  his  horse,  mounted  his  wagon,  and 
drove  to  his  home,  and  they  walked  slowly  to  hers. 


40  MR.     TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER  V. 

AS  they  came  to  the  house,  a  wagon  drove  up  be- 
hind them,  and  a  hearty  voice  saluted  them.  It 
proved  that  the  speaker  was  the  doctor  of  the  neigh- 
borhood, Dr.  Tillinghast.  He  jumped  from  the  car- 
riage, evidently  confident  that  the  horse  would  stand, 
and  joined  the  other  two. 

"  Is  this  Mr.  Tangier  ?  "  he  said  with  the  cordiality 
of  a  gentleman  accustomed  to  meet  all  sorts  and  con- 
ditions of  men.  "I  have  just  been  calling  on  you 
at  our  good  friend  Mrs.  Fairbanks's ;  Miss  Rachel 
told  me  that  I  should  find  you  here,  so  you  must  re- 
gard this  as  my  call  of  hospitality.  I  come  to  offer 
you  our  all,  —  our  meadows,  our  hills,  our  prospects, 
our  wild-flowers,  our  distant  beaches,  and  our  neigh- 
boring river,  with  all  the  gayeties  of  Tenterdon 
society." 

Mr.  Tangier  thanked  him,  in  the  same  hearty  way, 
and  said  that  Mrs.  Dunster  had  already  told  him  that 
he  was  entitled  to  the  freedom  of  the  village.  He 
also  spoke  of  the  pleasant  talk  he  had  had  with  this 
Mr.  Burdett  whom  he  had  found  at  the  church. 

"  At  the  church,"  said  the  doctor,  with  the  slightest 
change  in  tone ;  "  that  is  loyal  in  you,  indeed.  Frankly, 
Mr.  Tangier,  I  divide  our  summer  visitors  into  two 
classes:  First,  those  who  range  themselves  on  the 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  41 

side  of  order;  next,  those  who  range  themselves  no- 
where, and  thus  belong,  of  necessity,  to  the  party  of 
disorder." 

Tangier  laughed.  "  You  remember,"  said  he,  "  what 
Byron  makes  the  Devil  say :  — 

'  He  who  bows  not  to  God,  has  bowed  to  me.' " 
I 

The  doctor  smiled  his  approval.     "  It  is  very  good 

gospel,"  said  he,  "  whether  it  come  from  Byron,  or  the 
Devil,  or  from  both.  Do  not  think  that  I  am  too 
serious  abput  it.  Of  course,  when  people  come  here 
to  play,  they  come  to  play.  I  understand  that  very 
well.  But  here  are  Mrs.  Dunster  and  I,  and  Rachel 
Fairbanks,  and  Jane  Campbell  yonder,  and  five  hun- 
dred other  children  of  God,  who  are  here  all  the  time. 
I  can  assure  you  that  we  watch  pretty  closely  the 
manners  and  customs  of  the  polished  people  who  come 
to  us  from  the  scenes  of  high  civilization.  Your 
friend  Mrs.  Fairbanks  would  call  them  '  the  boarders.' 
She  divides  the  world  into  two  classes  :  the  people  of 
Tenterdon,  and  'the  boarders.'  When  I  first  heard 
her  I  thought  only  of  the  '  Pirate's  Own  Book,'  with 
which  I  was  familiar,  and  the  thrilling  cry  of  the  sea- 
fights,  'Boarders  to  repel  boarders.'  But  if  you  are 
skilful  in  dime  literature,  you  know  that  there  are 
good  ruffians  as  well  as  bad  ruffians,  just  as  there  are 
good  giants  and  bad  giants  in  the  fairy  tales.  So 
there  are  good  boarders,  like  those  who  come  to  Ten- 
terdon for  the  summer,  and  bad  boarders,  like  those 
in  the  'Pirate's  Own  Book.'" 

By  this  time  they  were  all  seated  on  Mrs.  Dunster's 
deep  piazza.  Somebody  had  brought  out  two  or  three 
rugs,  there  was  a  moon,  a  quarter  old,  in  the  sky,  and 


42  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

there  was  no  temptation  to  go  in.  After  a  little  talk, 
Mr.  Tangier  recalled  the  doctor  to  this  matter  of 
the  social  order  of  such  a  scattered  town,  as  it  was 
affected  by  the  annual  inroad,  for  three  or  four  months, 
of  people  who  had  nothing  to  do  but  to  amuse 
themselves. 

"  To  tell  you  the  truth,"  said  he,  "  I  have  thought  of 
this,  this  evening,  quite  as  much  as  I  have  thought  of 
the  Scripture  lesson.  I  had  around  me  one  of  the  social 
institutions  of  Tenterdon.  For  the  greatest  of  all 
possible  subjects,  for  the  one  subject,  indeed,  which, 
rightly  presented,  interests  everybody,  there  were  nine- 
teen people  assembled  on  a  pleasant  evening,  with  a 
man  of  genius  to  talk  to  them,  and  with  every  asso- 
ciation of  the  very  best  memories  in  their  lives  to 
bring  them  together.  Of  these  nineteen  people,  well, 
I  should  say  a  dozen  had  passed  that  grand  climac- 
teric which  Dr.  Jackson  says  is  the  prime  of  life,  — 
namely,  sixty-three  years,  or  thereabouts.  Of  the 
rest,  two  or  three  were  boys  and  girls,  who  had  come 
because  the  old  people  could  not  be  trusted  alone 
with  the  horses.  So  far  as  the  meeting  showed  any 
social  habit  among  the  people  of  Tenterdon,  it  could 
not  be  considered  as  encouraging.  Now,  tell  me  what 
other  social  institutions  are  here,  summer  or  winter, 
which  bring  these  people  together  in  larger  places,  or 
which  show  any  heartier  desire  to  know  each  other, 
to  live  in  a  common  life,  and  to  make  these  to  be  the 
best  possible  of  homes." 

Thus  challenged,  the  doctor  and  Mrs.  Dunster  re- 
viewed with  some  little  care  the  history  of  the  last 
year  in  Tenterdon.  They  told  how  many  sleigh-rides 
had  been  arranged  in  winter,  by  which  the  young  peo- 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  43 

pie  went  across  to  Wors-neck  and  had  a  dance  there 
together.  They  told  of  the  political  caucus  in  the 
fall,  when  General  Logan  spoke  to  the  whole  county. 
They  told  of  the  cattle-show  in  the  autumn ;  and  this 
seemed  to  be,  on  the  whole,  the  great  social  event  of 
the  year.  Kather  to  Mr.  Tangier's  surprise,  for  his 
memories  were  of  a  different  region  and  another  form 
of  social  life,  there  was,  really,  no  reference  to  those 
friendly  visitings  in  which  twenty  or  thirty  people 
should  come  together  to  spend  an  evening,  with  the 
single  exception  of  the  monthly  meeting  of  the  ladies' 
missionary  society,  which  Mrs.  Dunster  described  with 
a  good  deal  of  spirit  and  humor. 

There  was  a  little  lull  after  this  somewhat  scant 
programme.  Then  Mr.  Tangier  said,  "  Seriously,  are 
these  all  the  possibilities  ?  When  one  remembers 
that  as  few  people  as  these,  when  they  gathered  to- 
gether at  New  Haven,  had  force  enough  to  build  up 
a  commonwealth,  to  make  its  laws  and  so  adjust  its 
institutions  that  everything  has  worked  well  there  for 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  one  feels  as  if  five  hun- 
dred people  here  might  have  better  social  institutions 
than  these." 

Dr.  Tillinghast  took  him  up  with  the  same  serious- 
ness. "  Yes,"  he  said,  "  all  things  are  possible  where 
there  is  a  leader.  Where  will  you  be  Sunday  after- 
noon ?  If  you  don't  dislike  a  pleasant  drive  across 
the  country,  I  will  clear  my  docket  in  the  morning, 
and  in  the  afternoon  I  will  take  you  across  to  Win- 
throp,  and  you  shall  hear  their  music  there.  Then 
you  shall  see  what  grows  up  on  good  ground  when  there 
has  been  good  planting  and  good  ploughing  for  half 
a  century." 


44  MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS. 

Sunday  was  fine,  and  the  two  started  together,  —  two 
men  who  had  just  passed  the  flush  of  early  manhood. 
Each,  in  his  own  place,  was  now  beginning  to  feel 
that  he  had  duties  to  society.  They  talked  of  every- 
thing as  they  rode,  and  they  enjoyed  everything. 
Most  of  all  they  enjoyed  each  other.  The  eight 
miles  seemed  only  too  short  as  they  drove  into  Win- 
throp,  which  proved  to  be  a  little  town  dedicated  to 
the  manufacture  of  shoes,  with  rather  a  crude  look 
of  freshness  in  the  great  shops,  scattered  among  the 
old  houses  of  the  days  when  farming  still  paid  in 
that  region. 

"  Mr.  Dunlap  lets  me  use  his  horse-shed,"  said  Til- 
linghast ;  and  they  drove  into  one  of  a  long  series  of 
sheds  which  the  piety  of  former  times  had  arranged 
for  the  horses  of  Sunday  worshippers.  Having  cared 
for  their  beast,  they  walked  across  together  to  the 
town-hall,  a  new,  unhandsome,  brick  building,  spa- 
cious and  convenient,  to  which  the  people  of  the  vil- 
lage were  already  thronging. 

Here  they  found  perhaps  a  hundred  and  fifty  people, 
chatting  among  the  chairs  and  settees.  In  a  minute 
there  came  in  upon  the  platform  the  members  of  a 
large  orchestra,  with  their  instruments.  In  all,  there 
were  thirty -two  pieces,  and  Mr.  Tangier  saw,  a  little 
to  his  surprise,  that  the  different  performers  arranged 
themselves,  and  adjusted  their  instruments,  with  quite 
the  artistic  knowledge  of  the  position,  and  conscious- 
ness of  their  own  ability,  which  he  might  have  ex- 
pected had  he  seen  Thomas's  orchestra  in  New  York. 
At  once  the  assembly  was  seated  and  all  conversa- 
tion stopped.  In  a  moment  the  leader  of  the  orches- 
tra tapped  with  his  rod,  a  few  strains  were  played 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  45 

upon  one  instrument,  and  then  the  whole  assembly 
arose  and  sung  as  a  choral:  — 

"  A  mighty  fortress  is  our  God," 

<ed  by  the  director,  whose  superb  orchestra  rendered 
che  tune. 

Dr.  Tillinghast  had,  with  a  good  deal  of  skill,  re- 
frained from  telling  Mr.  Tangier  just  what  they  were 
to  see  and  hear.  The  satisfaction  of  the  afternoon, 
therefore,  had  to  him  all  the  elements  of  surprise, 
for  two  hours  an  orchestra,  such  as  he  had  seldom 
heard,  rendered  with  dignity  and  feeling  some  of  the 
best  music  of  the  noblest  composers.  A  modest  little 
programme  in  his  hand  told  him  who  these  masters 
were  when,  as  sometimes  happened,  he  did  not 
know.  At  the  end  of  the  service,  and  a  majestic 
service  it  was,  the  conductor  turned  once  more  to  the 
congregation,  which  rose  again  and  sang  a  parting 
hymn  as  they  had  sung  before.  Some  of  the  people 
went  out,  some  stayed  to  chat  with  each  other.  Dr. 
Tillinghast  and  Mr.  Tangier  found  their  wagon  and 
rode  home. 

"  That  is  what  is  possible,"  said  the  doctor.  "  More 
than  fifty  years  ago  the  musical  society  of  this  village 
was  gathered  and  incorporated.  That  has  probably 
helped  in  building  up  the  taste  of  this  town.  But  in 
our  generation  one  modest  man  who  knows  the  power 
of  music  has  organized  this  grand  orchestra.  Nobody 
pays  them,  nobody  pays  him,  except  the  good  God. 
And  I  think  He  gives  them  satisfaction  enough  by 
way  of  present  recompense.  This  man  was  the  leader, 
whom  you  saw.  If  he  had  not  been  too  modest  you 
would  have  heard  one  of  his  own  compositions.  I 
dare  say  you  have  heard  them  in  New  York  or  in 


46  MR.   TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

Cincinnati.  I  wanted  you  to  see  this,  so  soon  as  you 
asked  what  was  possible  in  a  community  of  five  hun- 
dred people." 

NOTE.  —  I  have  here  attempted  to  describe  the  interesting  mu- 
sical service  which  is  carried  on  every  Sunday  afternoon  in  the 
town  of  Stoughton,  in  Norfolk  County,  in  Massachusetts.  My 
purpose  would  not  have  been  advanced  in  the  least,  had  I  merely 
presented  an  imaginary  picture.  I  have  but  described  in  this 
chapter,  as  well  as  I  can,  the  service  which  the  people  of  this 
town  render  regularly  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Edward 
Jones.  — E.  E.  H. 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  47 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ME.  TANGIER  did  not  find  that  he  made  more 
than  a  passing  acquaintance  with  most  of  the 
people  who  were  around  him.  His  first  personal  con- 
tact with  any  of  them  was  on  a  day  when  a  sudden 
shower  overtook  him  as  he  was  returning  from  a  long 
walk.  He  came,  very  much  to  his  own  satisfaction,  to 
the  little  school -house  of  District  No.  9.  The  house 
stood  quite  alone  on  the  side  of  a  rather  dreary  road, 
where  it  had  been  placed,  in  the  canonical  fashion  of 
New  England,  in  order  that  it  might  be  as  near  as 
possible  to  the  geographical  centre  of  the  district. 
Mr.  Tangier  arrived  there,  fortunately  for  him,  just 
as  the  large  drops  were  beginning  to  fall,  and  without 
much  hesitation  he  opened  the  front  door  and  found 
himself  in  a  little  hall,  perhaps  three  feet  square, 
where  was  another  door  which  he  knew  would  admit 
him  to  the  school-room. 

His  own  plan  would  have  been  to  stay  alone,  and 
watch  the  rain  in  front  of  him,  under  this  safe  shel- 
ter ;  but  the  passing  of  any  traveller,  either  on  horse- 
back, in  a  wagon,  or  on  foot,  was  quite  too  much  of 
an  event  not  to  have  been  noticed  from  the  school 
windows.  After  a  moment's  pause  the  schoolmistress, 
who  was  never  called  by  that  name,  but  was  always 
called  the  "  teacher,"  came  to  the  inner  door,  opened 
it,  and  asked  him  to  walk  in. 


48  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

She  was  a  tall,  slight  girl,  not  more  than  seventeen 
years  of  age.  She  blushed  as  she  rendered  the  invita- 
tion, as  she  would  have  done  had  Mr.  Tangier  been 
cross-examining  her  as  a  witness  upon  the  stand  ;  but 
she  passed  bravely  through  the  ordeal,  and  succeeded 
in  offering  her  hospitality  very  simply.  Mr.  Tangier 
was  not  sorry  to  be  asked.  He  said  to  himself  that 
he  should  have  a  chance  to  see  how  much  twenty  years 
of  Horace  Mann  and  his  disciples  had  affected  the 
school  system  of  his  dear  New  England ;  and  he  would 
certainly  be  more  comfortable  sitting,  as  the  shower 
went  by,  than  he  would  be  standing  alone  in  the 
little  entry- way. 

The  hospitalities  were  rendered  a  little  more  difficult 
because  the  "  teacher  "  had  no  chair  to  offer,  excepting 
that  which  she  was  in  the  habit  of  occupying  herself. 
Mr.  Tangier  made  the  proper  gentlemanly  protests 
against  depriving  her  of  her  seat ;  but  so  soon  as  he 
saw  that  it  would  really  be  a  relief  to  her  to  have  him 
do  so,  he  took  the  chair,  as  Lord  Stair  entered  the 
French  king's  carriage.  He  begged  her  not  to  change 
the  exercises  of  the  morning,  in  any  sort,  —  assured 
her  that  he  should  like  to  see  them.  He  nodded  to  a 
certain  little  Nellie  Pingree,  whose  acquaintance  he 
had  already  made  in  the  neighborhood,  took  the 
spe'lling-book  which  Miss  Gurtry  offered  him,  and  pre- 
tended to  give  attention  to  the  recitation. 

That  particular  class  consisted  of  the  typical  "  other 
little  girl  and  I,"  which  makes  a  prominent  part  in 
every  district  school.  In  point  of  fact,  Mr.  Tangier 
did  not  so  much  trouble  himself  to  observe  whether 
that  little  boy,  and  that  girl  with  her  finger  in  her 
mouth,  could  or  could  not  spell  "  cool "  and  "  pool." 


MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS.  49 

He  was  more  occupied  in  watching  the  aspect  of  the 
children,  and  the  general  make-up  of  the  institution. 

He  knew  already  that  he  should  see  none  of  the 
larger  boys  there.  They  had  quite  too  much  estimate 
of  their  own  worth,  to  go  to  school  in  the  summer ; 
and  yet,  be  it  observed,  that  same  estimate  would 
have  compelled  them  to  go  to  school  in  the  winter. 
That  is  to  say,  they  would  have  fought  to -the  death 
against  any  employer  who  refused  them  the  necessary 
hours  for  the  winter  school.  On  the  other  hand,  they 
would  have  absolutely  disobeyed  any  employer  who 
directed  them  to  take  six  hours  of  his  time  in  the 
summer,  that  they  might  go  to  the  school-house. 
There  was  no  distinction  in  this  case  between  the 
teachers.  This  same  slight,  tall,  blue-eyed  Miss 
Gurtry  "  kept  the  school "  in  winter  and  in  summer. 
It  was  simply  a  matter  of  conventional  etiquette,  be- 
longing to  the  invisible  distinction  between  a  great 
boy  and  a  little  boy,  and  thus  there  was  not  a  "  great 
boy  "  of  them  all  —  that  expression  in  this  case  mean- 
ing not  a  boy  over  eleven  years  of  age  —  but  would 
have  preferred  the  hardest  work  in  the  hay-field,  or 
the  most  disgraceful  work  in  following  after  the  rak- 
ing-machine,  when  they  had  been  cutting  the  rye,  to 
the  easy  luxury  of  sitting  under  pretty  Miss  Gurtry's 
care  for  six  hours  of  a  sultry  summer  day.  None  of 
them  would  debase  himself  by  going  with  the  "little 
fellows." 

But  there  were  girls  nearly  as  old  as  Miss  Gurtry 
was  herself.  The  population  of  the  school,  therefore, 
was,  as  it  happened,  eleven  girls  and  six  boys,  and,  of 
the  boys,  some  were  so  small  and  so  clad  that  it  was 
difficult  to  distinguish  them  from  their  own  sisters. 

4 


50  MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS. 

As  for  classification,  as  Mr.  Tangier  soon  found  out, 
there  was  little  or  none.  The  law  of  natural  selection 
had  brought  together  the  boy  and  girl  who  were  spell- 
ing "  pool "  and  "  cool."  The  teacher  told  him,  with 
a  good-natured  laugh,  as  soon  as  she  became  well 
enough  acquainted,  that  she  had  three  other  classes 
as  large  as  that,  and  one  class  which  was  larger.  But 
practically,  for  most  of  the  studies,  she  was  obliged 
to  engage  each  scholar,  as  it  were,  hand  to  hand ;  and 
thus  the  scholars  all  had  the  full  benefit  of  her  per- 
sonal assistance  and  advice.  Mr.  Tangier  came  into 
the  building  with  a  simple  curiosity  about  a  system 
which  has  extended  itself,  nobody  knows  how,  over 
the  training  of  more  than  three  million  people  in 
New  England.  He  had  a  theoretical  respect  for  the 
principle  by  which  the  children  of  these  three  million 
people  receive  some  sort  of  training,  in  some  sort  of 
literature,  for  at  least  twenty-five  weeks  in  each  year. 
To  tell  the  whole  truth,  he  supposed  that  this  training 
was  of  a  very  negligent  and  shabby  sort,  and  when 
he  saw  the  young  woman  who  gave  him  his  chair,  it 
was  with  a  simple  feeling  of  pity  that,  where  a  world 
was  out  of  joint,  she  should  be  set  to  put  it  right, 
even  in  one  of  its  least  important  corners. 

But  as  the  shower  went  on,  possibly  in  the  course 
of  an  hour,  she  called  up  to  her  eight  or  ten  different 
pupils,  now  fashioned  in  classes  of  two,  and  now  quite 
alone ;  and  with  her  kindly,  simple,  pretty  way,  made 
to  each  of  them  the  lesson  of  the  next  hour  clear  and 
interesting.  Mr.  Tangier  found  himself  engaged,  be- 
fore long,  in  some  quite  labored  speculations  as  to 
methods  of  instruction  ;  and  he  began  to  wonder  how  it 
was  that  a  girl',  not  much  more  than  half  his  own  age, 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  51 

should  be  handling,  with  so  delicate  a  touch,  the  ma- 
chinery of  life  of  infinite  beings,  so  wisely  and  suc- 
cessfully as  he  saw  she  did.  He  pretended  that  he 
was  not  watching  her,  for  he  saw  in  a  moment  that 
so  long  as  he  did  watch  her  she  was  ill  at  ease.  He 
walked  to  the  wall,  therefore,  and  affected  to  be  inter- 
ested in  the  geography  of  the  States  west  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  Then  he  read,  or  pretended  to  read,  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  was  framed 
in  a  broadside  and  hung  on  the  other  side  of  the 
room.  But  really,  all  the  time,  he  was  wondering  to 
think  how  it  was,  by  what  law  of  natural  selection  or 
other  selection,  that  a  person  so  competent  to  deal 
with  these  little  half  savages  had  drifted  into  the 
place  where  he  found  this  young  woman.  He  said  to 
himself  that  his  first  letter  to  Morton,  instead  of  being 
a  description  of  morning  sunrise  or  of  the  glow  of 
sunset,  would  be  an  enthusiastic  rhapsody  on  a  subject 
for  which  he  had  supposed  he  cared  so  little  as  the 
working  of  the  common-school  system  of  America. 

He  was  fairly  sorry  when  a  scream  from  one  of  the 
children  announced  that  the  lower  arc  of  a  rainbow 
could  be  seen  from  the  eastern  window.  The  teacher 
permitted  the  children  all  to  run  to  the  door  to  look 
out  on  the  beautiful  spectacle,  and  poor  Mr.  Tangier 
had  no  longer  an  excuse  for  staying  to  watch  the 
performances. 

He  then  made  his  good-byes  very  cordially,  asked  if 
he  might  not  come  in  and  examine  the  school  again 
(laughing  as  he  did  so),  nodded  to  his  new  acquaint- 
ances  among  the  children,  and  renewed  his  walk. 


52  MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

ON  his  return  home,  after  the  adventure  at  the 
school-house,  Mr.  Tangier  found  that  a  new 
arrival  had  disturbed  the  usual  stillness  and  serenity 
of  Mrs.  Fairbanks's  establishment.  A  party  had  ar- 
rived from  New  Hamburg.  The  existence  of  this 
party  had  been  frequently  alluded  to  by  Mrs.  Fair- 
banks. Mr.  Tangier  had  observed  that  she  spoke  of 
it  as  one  might  speak  of  a  bale  of  cotton,  or  of  a  barrel 
of  molasses,  which  an  agent  had  shipped,  regarding 
whose  quality  the  consignee  was  comparatively  indif- 
ferent. A  party  was,  to  Mrs.  Fairbanks,  a  party.  It 
occupied  such  and  such  rooms ;  and  thus  it  left  such 
and  such  other  rooms  to  be  divided  between  the  wo- 
man who  had  written  from  Omaha,  and  that  Mrs. 
Jones  or  Mrs.  Smith  who  had  written  from  Washing- 
ton, and  the  people  who  had  the  L  chambers  last 
year,  who  were  not  sure  whether  they  should  come  or 
not  this  year.  "  It  all  depends,"  said  Mrs.  Fairbanks, 
as  she  reviewed  the  position  to  Mr.  Tangier  one  morn- 
ing as  he  sat  at  breakfast,  "  it  all  depends  on  whether 
their  Uncle  Silas  dies  or  not.  If  he  should  die, — 
well,  they  would  never  come  here  again.  They  would 
jfo  to  Newport.  For  they  would  divide  his  property 
1  with  that  Mr.  Clam,  —  I  dare  say  you  know  him,  an  in- 
surance man  in  Chicago,  —  and  they  would  not  come 
to  a  place  like  this.  But  if  he  does  not  die,  —  and  die 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  53 

pretty    soon,  —  they  will   take   the   second-story  L 
chambers  again." 

And  as  Mrs.  Fairbanks  studied  her  "Deaths  "  every 
day,  when  the  paper  canie,  it  was  with  a  special  in- 
terest in  the  death  or  life  of  the  uncle. 

How  little  did  he  or  his  physician  know  how  his 
ups  and  downs  affected  the  interests  of  this  unknown 
corner  of  the  world ! 

Mr.  Tangier  found  the  new  party  at  tea.  He  was 
introduced  by  name  to  Mrs.  Hasey,  the  older  lady,  — 
to  Mrs.  Floxam,  whom  he  soon  fixed,  and  fixed  cor- 
rectly, as  Mrs.  Hasey's  niece,  —  to  two  tall  and  hun- 
gry girls,  —  and  to  two  short  boys,  equally  hungry, 
who,  fortunately  for  his  peace,  said  nothing,  but  ate 
the  more.  This  was  Mrs.  Fairbanks's  affair,  not  his. 
And  he  was  so  far  a  philanthropist,  that  he  was  quite 
willing  to  do  his  duty  in  passing  the  syrup  backward 
and  forward.  Mrs.  Fairbanks,  watchful  at  her  post, 
observed  this  philanthropy,  and  at  the  next  meal 
placed  these  young  people  together,  with  syrup  pitch- 
ers of  their  own.  "I  do  not  mean  to  have  you  do 
the  work  of  my  table-girl,  Mr.  Tangier." 

If  the  children  were  silent,  the  cause  soon  appeared. 
If  Mrs.  Floxam  seemed  a  little  weighed  down,  the 
cause  soon  appeared.  Mrs.  Hasey,  cheerful,  smooth  of 
face,  and  unconscious  of  fatigue,  bore  no  sign  of  the 
six  hundred  and  seventy-seven  miles  which  they  had 
passed  over  since  they  left  New  Hamburg,  say  thirty- 
one  hours  before.  The  pillow  of  the  sleeper  had  left 
no  wrinkle  on  her  face,  the  motion  of  the  train  had  not* 
affected  her  appetite.  She  wore  the  same  sunny  smile 
witli  which  she  may  have  looked  on  a  Commencement 
at  William  and  Mary,  when,  as  a  girl  of  twelve,  she 


54  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

had  first  graced  a  public  pageant,  and  when  she  first 
smiled  her  commendations  upon  the  graduates  of  the 
day.  She  was  not  at  the  head  of  the  table,  and  there 
was  nothing  arrogant  in  her  manner.  But,  from  the 
beginning,  she  was  as  perfectly  at  home  here  as  she 
would  have  been  at  any  table  of  her  own  (if,  poor  soul ! 
she  had  had  such  a  table  in  many  years).  It  may  be 
said,  in  passing,  had  she  been  at  a  Royal  party  at 
Windsor,  she  would  have  assumed  the  same  cordial  ex- 
pression of  interest  in  all  people  present ;  or  had  she 
been  asked  to  try  pot-luck  in  the  seediest  and  poorest 
tenement-house  in  the  city  of  New  York,  she  would 
there  have  borne  herself  with  equal  ease  and  good- 
nature. 

The  business  of  eating  and  drinking  had  scarcely 
been  undertaken,  when  she  addressed  herself  to  Mr. 
Tangier.  She  did  not  affect  to  have  known  him  be- 
fore, but  she  spoke  to  him  as  if  they  had  travelled  on 
the  highway  of  life  together  for  twenty  years.  Still, 
her  first  question  acknowledged  her  ignorance.  It 
was  to  ask  him  whether  he  were  any  relative  of  a 
gentleman  named  Tunis,  whom  she  had  known  in  the 
city  of  Fredericksburg,  in  Virginia. 

Mr.  Tangier  was  amused,  but  he  did  not  yet  feel 
intimate  enough  to  laugh.  He  said,  which  was  true 
enough,  that  he  knew  that  there  was  such  a  name  as 
Tunis,  but  he  did  not  think  that  he  had  any  relatives 
of  that  name.  It  was  possible,  he  said,  however,  that 
they  might  have  crossed  together  in  the  "  Mayflower," 
or  the  "Lion." 

Mrs.  Hasey  took  up  the  word  "Lion,"  and  said  at 
once,  "Ah,  then  we  are  relatives  ourselves,  Mr.  Tan- 
gier, at  least,  so  far  as  the  "  Lion  "  goes  ;  for  I  am  quite 


MR.   TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  55 

sure  that  my  people  came  over  in  the  '  Lion/  or  if  my 
people  didn't,  my  husband's  did,  and  that  is  very 
much  the  same." 

Mr.  Tangier  laughed  this  time,  and  was  amused,  but 
was  willing  enough  to  enter  into  the  intimacy  which 
was  proposed,  and  took  her  on  her  own  easy  terms. 

"  I  made  quite  a  study  once,"  he  said,  "  of  the  peo- 
ple on  board  the  '  Lion.'  I  think  Eoger  Williams  was 
on  the  '  Lion,'  and  I  once  tried  to  write  a  little  essay 
on  the  talk  that  he  and  the  other  passengers  had.  I 
did  a  little  to  work  up  their  characters  and  notions 
from  what  came  of  them  afterwards.  But  he  is  a  skil- 
ful artist  who  can  make  those  hard  old  fellows  live 
and  move  and  have  any  being,  and  I  was  willing 
enough  to  put  the  whole  into  the  fire." 

"  Ah,  then,"  said  Mrs.  Hasey,  "  you  are  one  of  the 
literary  gentlemen.  We  had  an  author  here  last  year, 
and  my  daughter  there  used  to  help  him  reading  his 
proofs.  I  forget  what  he  was  making.  Was  it  a  dic- 
tionary, Mary,  or  a  volume  of  sonnets  ?  " 

Mary  set  her  right  as  to  the  dictionary  and  the  vol- 
ume of  sonnets.  In  point  of  fact,  it  was  neither.  It 
was  an  abridged  history  of  the  United  States,  for  the 
use  of  schools.  They  all  laughed  at  the  nice  old  lady 
for  her  indifference  to  the  subject,  and  some  one  told 
the  story  of  the  other  old  lady  who  arrived  at  Mrs. 
Hay  ward's  house,  and  said  she  should  like  the  novel 
which  she  had  left  unfinished  the  year  before.  When 
she  was  asked  what  the  novel  was,  she  did  not  remem- 
ber its  name,  and  she  did  not  know  what  the  story  was 
about ;  but  she  did  remember  that  the  back  was  of  the 
same  color  as  the  paint  on  the  banisters  as  she  went 
up  to  bed.  So  one  of  the  young  ladies  went  up  to  the 


56  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

library,  took  the  color  of  the  banister  In  her  eye  as 
she  went,  and  matching  the  novel,  brought  it  trium- 
phantly downstairs. 

Mr.  Tangier  said  that  this  showed  the  disadvantage 
of  being  color-blind.  He  said  it  would  be  very  hard 
for  a  man  who  had  read  half  through  Bancroft's  his- 
tory to  find  himself  going  on  with  Gibbon's  "De- 
cline and  Fall,"  merely  because  he  could  not  tell  the 
difference  between  purple  and  green  in  the  cambric 
binding. 

"  As  to  that,"  said  Mrs.  Hasey,  "  I  do  not  know  my- 
self how  they  remember  anything  about  either. 

"  I  should  think,  Mr.  Tunis,"  she  continued,  in  the 
inexhaustible  flow  of  her  good  spirits,  good-temper, 
and  general  friendliness,  "  I  should  think  that  you 
would  move  your  hammock,  and  swing  it  so  that  you 
might  look  down  the  road  and  see  the  passing." 

Mr.  Tangier  started,  without  meaning  to.  It  was 
so  clearly  his  own  business  where  he  should  or  should 
not  take  his  afternoon  nap,  or  whether  he  should  take 
it  at  all,  that  it  had  not  occurred  to  him  that  his 
place  for  it  was  to  be  discussed  in  the  daily  caucus  of 
breakfast,  dinner,  or  supper.  But  he  was  good-natured, 
and  was  amused.  He  said  only  that  he  found  the 
staples  driven  where  they  were ;  that  when  a  man 
went  to  a  hammock  he  was  not  in  a  mood  for  reforms, 
and  that  he  had  left  them  as  he  found  them. 

"  Oh,  yes,  Mr.  Tunis,  I  understand  all  that.  But 
this  nice  boy  that  brought  us  over,  I  am  sure  he  is 
handy  with  tools.  I  saw  how  he  knocked  the  stone 
out  of  his  horse's  hoof.  He  will  change  them  for  you, 
if  you  ask  him.  I  will  speak  to  him  when  he  brings 
my  trunk  upstairs." 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  57 

Here  Mr.  Tangier  proved  rebellious.  And  he  said, 
simply,  that  he  would  give  his  own  directions  when 
he  made  up  his  mind  where  the  hammock  should 
swing.  The  old  lady  listened,  not  at  all  displeased. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,  indeed  I  do,  my  dear  Mr.  Tunis. 
You  must  not  be  offended  with  an  old  woman  like  me. 
My  brother  John  always  told  me  that  my  advice-mill 
was  always  going.  Don't  you  mind  it.  Let  me  talk, 
and  do  not  listen  if  you  do  not  care  to." 

"I  have  had  one  little  tiff  with  Mrs.  Fairweather 
already,"  she  said,  laughing  good-naturedly,  —  for  she 
was  the  essence  of  good-nature.  "  I  advised  her  to 
hang  her  clothes  on  the  sunny  side  of  the  house ;  but 
somehow  she  did  not  like  that.  But  we  have  quite 
made  it  up.  And  you  and  I  must  be  friends,  Mr. 
Tunis,  because  we  are  to  sit  together.  I  am  sure  we 
are  to  be  friends."  And  so  in  fact  they  were. 

Poor  Mrs.  Floxam,  beat  out  and  reduced  to  her  first 
elements  by  her  six  or  eight  hundred  miles  of  travel, 
withdrew  as  soon  as  she  might,  after  she  had  taken 
a  cup  of  tea,  and  hardly  appeared  again  in  the  con- 
claves of  the  house  for  the  next  three  days.  At  the 
end  of  half  an  hour  of  toast,  and  biscuits,  and  Indian- 
cakes,  and  buckwheat-cakes,  varied  with  clam-fritters 
and  chicken-croquettes,  and  finished  by  tipsy-cake,  the 
hungry  girls  and  hungry  boys  so  far  ceased  tempora- 
rily from  hunger  that  they  slipped  from  their  seats, 
and  went  off  together  on  a  walk  in  search  of  the  beach. 
To  his  equal  amusement  and  amazement,  Mr.  Tangier 
found  himself  sitting  on  the  front  stoop  of  the  house 
with  old  Mrs.  Hasey,  and  listening  to  her  views  on  the 
difference  between  Pennsylvania  and  New  York,  New 
York  and  Connecticut,  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island, 


58  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

as  she  had  gathered  them  from  the  ride  of  the  last 
day  and  a  half,  of  which  nine  hours  had  been  spent  in 
the  seclusion  of  her  own  sleeping-car  berth. 

Mr.  Tangier  remembered  that  agricultural  corre- 
spondent of  the  London  "  Times,"  who  enlightened 
"  Times  "  reading  Europe  by  a  general  review  of  Ameri- 
can agriculture,  after  he  had  passed  for  four  hours  along 
the  Shore  Line  Koad,  from  Harlem  to  Providence. 

Why  did  Mr.  Tangier  sit  there  and  listen  to  the  old 
lady's  chattering?  He  could  have  gone  to  the  side 
piazza.  He  could  have  sat  on  the  open  veranda 
which  was  his  own,  where  no  one  could  interfere,  for 
it  opened  from  his  own  room.  To  this  question  he 
gave  a  good  deal  of  attention,  as  he  put  it  to  himself, 
three  hours  afterward,  when  he  was  undressing  for 
bed.  Why  had  he  spent  these  three  hours  listening 
to  the  chatter  of  an  old  woman  ? 

First,  perhaps,  because  she  was  a  lady  through  and 
through  ;  for  a  lady  may  have  the  passion  for  talking, 
and  yet  shall  not  cease  to  be  a  lady. 

Second,  because  she  never  spoke  one  unkind  word 
of  anybody.  Things  and  institutions  she  might  dis- 
approve of;  but  if  she  disapproved  of  people,  the 
disapproval  was  buried  as  a  deep  secret  in  her  own 
heart. 

Third,  because  it  was  clear  that  talking  was  simply 
life  to  her  —  or  life  was  talking.  You  sat  by  her  and 
enjoyed  the  constant  stream  as  you  enjoy  the  fall  of 
a  pretty  cascade  in  the  flow  of  a  forest  brook.  Very  , 
likely  you  do  not  look  at  the  cascade  all  the  time. 
Very  likely  your  thoughts  are  far  away,  a-flood  or 
a-tield.  You  are  fighting  with  Zulus  in  Africa,  while 
the  stream  babbles  on  and  the  water  falls ;  or  you  are 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  59 

striking  whales  with  Gardner  in  the  Arctic ;  or  you  are 
drawing  forth  "cheers  from  the  opposition,"  as  you 
electrify  Parliament  in  your  discussion  of  the  Land- 
league.  And  still  the  cascade  talks  to  you;  nay,  it 
improves  your  speech  by  its  talk  to  you.  If  the  cas- 
cade stopped  a  moment,  why,  the  Land-league  speech 
would  stop  as  well. 

These  were  the  accounts  Mr.  Tangier  gave  to  him- 
self of  his  listening,  or  of  his  sitting  there  as  if  listen- 
ing. So  far  as  they  went  they  were  true  accounts. 
But  in  this  particular  case  there  was  something 
more. 

The  week  which  he  had  spent  in  the  absolute  seren- 
ity of  Mrs.  Fairbanks's  house,  and  its  almost  absolute 
stillness,  had  about  exhausted  his  newly-discovered 
joy  in  such  silence  as  existed  before  chaos  began.  For 
five  or  six  evenings  Mr.  Tangier  had  sat  on  this  stoop 
and  looked  on  this  sky ;  in  which  evenings,  from  one 
half-hour  to  another,  no  creak  of  a  wheel,  no  cry  of  a 
distant  goose,  no  stroke  of  a  bell  or  whistle  of  an 
engine  would  break  the  stillness.  Least  of  all  would 
there  sound  any  whisper  of  human  intelligence. 

At  first,  as  his  friend  Dr.  Morton  expected,  this 
silence  was  absolute  bliss  to  that  poor  tired  brain. 
To  live,  to  breathe,  to  see,  to  enjoy,  —  all  these  were 
possible,  with  the  omission  of  to  listen,  to  think, 
and  to  reply.  Nature,  silence.  God,  had  done  their 
perfect  work  for  the  poor  man  as  these  days  of  silence 
went  by.  But  it  is  not  ordered  that  such  days  shall 
last  forever,  nor  is  it  best  that  they  should. 

"Man  is  a  gregarious  animal." 

Mr.  Tangier  was  not  to  forget  the  sounds  of  the 
English  language,  nor  the  moods  and  tenses  of  its 


60  MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS. 

verbs,  nor  the  construction  of  its  sentences,  because  he 
had  taken  his  vacation. 

And  that  kind  divinity  which  was  delicately  carv- 
ing for  him  those  pretty  figures  in  the  ends  of  his  life, 
which  for  himself  he  had  shaped  rather  as  a  bungler 
does,  had  now  devised  this  simple  plan.  This  good- 
natured,  simple-minded  old  lady,  who  was  a  lady  in- 
deed, who  envied  nobody  and  despised  nobody,  and 
would  not  pain  a  fly,  was  moved  up  by  the  pawns  to  the 
square  next  Mr.  Tangier's  square  on  the  chessboard. 
It  was  quite  clear  that  their  lives  would  never  con- 
flict. She  could  not  conflict  with  anybody.  She  was 
like  a  bishop  white,  who  cannot  touch  the  pawn  who 
is  safely  on  the  black  square.  But  from  her  square 
to  Mr.  Tangier's  square  the  sound  of  the  steady  flow 
of  the  ripple  could  pass  across ;  and  he,  hardly  know- 
ing himself  how  much  he  needed  such  a  soothing  mix- 
ture, had  been  tranquillized  by  it  as  these  three  hours 
went  by. 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  61 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ME.  TANGIER  found  unending  interest  in  his 
walks.  The  country  all  around  Tenterdon  is 
one  of  those  regions  where  the  New  Englander  found 
little  occasion  to  stay,  after  the  foresight  of  the 
National  government  gave  to  him,  elsewhere,  a  farm 
of  the  best  of  land  if  he  would  only  go  and  ask  for  it. 
Over  the  old  grass-lands  and  corn-fields  here,  had 
grown  new  forests.  If  the  old  tenant  had  not  been 
gone  many  years,  the  aspect  of  the  approach  of  these 
forests  was  pathetic.  Even  before  the  trig  chestnut 
fences  rotted,  by  which  it  had  been  his  pride  to  pro- 
tect his  land,  inquiring  seeds  of  birch  and  pine  had 
flown  over  and  settled,  and  the  next  spring  they  had 
germinated.  With  another  year  more  of  such  dis- 
coverers passed  the  frontier,  and  some  of  them  came 
farther  on  the  fated  field.  Meanwhile,  the  last  year's 
invaders  were  bigger  and  bigger.  Not  many  years  of 
such  invasion  covered  the  whole  of  the  acres,  where 
so  much  labor  had  dragged  away  the  stones  for  walls 
almost  cyclopean.  While  this  process  was  going  on. 
when  yet  one  side  of  the  field,  once  mowing-land  01 
corn-land,  maintained  the  pretences  of  a  worn-out 
pasture,  the  advances  which  the  forest  made  upon  it 
worked  like  the  stealthy  approaches  of  an  assailing 
army. 


62  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

Once  and  again  Mr.  Tangier  came  upon  a  little 
cellar  which  showed  where  the  Burge  house,  or  the 
Winter  barn,  or  the  Comegys  place  had  stood.  And 
there  were  two  or  three  of  these  deserted  mansions 
still  standing,  —  the  windows  gone,  a  wretched  bit  of 
stove-funnel,  with  the  absolutely  useless  parts  of  a 
few  boots,  remaining  in  them,  perhaps ;  and,  as  Mr. 
Tangier  found  once  and  again,  enough  roof  for  a 
shelter  if  a  summer  shower  came  on.  For  one  con- 
siderable section  of  the  town,  he  found  that  such  were 
almost  the  only  houses  remaining.  The  old  roads  had 
sunk  into  being  m^re  wood-roads,  of  the  very  worst. 
Nobody  repaired  chein  in  summer,  because  the  snow 
of  winter  would  make  them  into  the  most  convenient 
of  highways,  precisely  fit  for  their  only  purpose,  —  the 
dragging  of  wood  out  from  the  forests  for  market. 

There  was,  however,  in  this  precinct  one  inhabited 
house.  It  was  very  much  inhabited.  It  stood  in  a 
picturesque  position,  where  it  had  a  wide  outlook  on 
the  distant  sea,  with  a  nearer  prospect  of  one  of  the 
pretty  ponds  which  give  life  to  the  woodland  scenery 
anywhere.  Mr.  Tangier  did  not  understand  its  inter- 
nal plan.  But  it  was  so  small,  and  the  windows  were 
so  few,  that  it  seemed  clear  enough  that  there  were 
but  few  rooms  within.  Still,  it  had  so  many  inhabi- 
tants on  the  outside,  —  if  the  extravagance  of  the  ex- 
pression may  be  pardoned,  —  that  you  woudered  what 
became  of  them  all  when  they  chose  to  inhabit  it  in- 
deed. Groups  of  black  children  of  all  sizes,  and 
of  the  capacities  belonging  to  such  sizes,  were  in- 
variably lounging  about  the  house  when  Mr.  Tangier 
passed  it,  or  were  sunning  themselves  upon  the  ground. 
He  met  people  whom  he  supposed  to  be  the  fathers 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.        .  63 

and  mothers  of  these  children,  and  with  them  he 
always,  of  course,  passed  the  civilities  of  travellers  who 
meet,  as  they  met,  in  the  wilderness.  There  were  ex- 
planations made  by  Mrs.  Fairbanks,  which  made  it 
probable  that  a  grandmother  and  a  great-grandmother 
lived  with  the  several  families  and  parts  of  families 
which  made  up  this  establishment  at  Joe  Turner's. 
Further  inquiry  made  it  certain  that  Joe  Turner  had 
been  shot  in  Florida  in  the  war.  But  his  name  clung 
to  the  establishment,  because  Joe  was,  on  the  whole, 
the  person  of  most  capacity  who  had  held  this  fort 
within  the  memory  of  man. 

With  this  rantipole  crew  Mr.  Tangier  had  estab- 
lished friendly  relations.  He  had  picked  up  one  of 
the  boys  at  the  post-office  one  day,  and  had  taken  the 
boy  sailing  with  him,  to  help  him  about  his  fish,  if  he 
took  any.  This  boy  became  afterward  a  sort  of  re- 
tainer. Mr.  Tangier  wanted  to  carry  his  intimacy  with 
the  family  rather  further,  and  the  next  time  he  wrote 
to  New  York  he  sent  an  order  to  Scribner's  for  half-a- 
dozen  toy-books,  to  be  of  the  most  gorgeous  colors,  with 
which  he  meant  to  open  his  intercourse  with  some  of 
the  younger  brats  when  he  next  passed  Turner's  in 
a  walk. 

It  was  therefore  with  a  certain  personal  interest 
that  he  started  from  bed  one  night,  waked  suddenly 
from  the  profoundest  sleep  by  the  cry  below  in  the 
roadway,  twice  repeated,  "  Joe  Turner 's  afire  ! "  He 
started  from  bed,  flung  up  his  curtain,  and  could  see 
above  the  trees  of  the  orchard  a  lurid  red  light  flash- 
ing up  and  coloring  the  clouds.  He  was  dressed  in  a 
very  few  minutes,  sprang  over  the  rail  which  cut  off 
Turner's  little  water-washed  roadway  from  the  main 


64  MR.   TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

road,  and  ran  up  the  hill  to  the  scene  of  the  disaster. 
One  or  two  other  loafers  from  the  village  were  before 
him,  and  from  the  sounds  behind  he  knew  that  one 
or  two  followed  him. 

It  was  scarce  half  a  mile  away,  and  a  few  minutes 
brought  him  there ;  but  the  mischief  was  already 
irreparable.  There  had  not  been  a  gallon  of  water 
within  a  quarter-mile  of  the  house.  Turner's  had 
never  known  any  such  luxury  as  a  well,  and  for  a 
century  every  drop  of  water  used  there  had  been 
painfully  carried  up  in  buckets  from  the  pond  below. 
So  soon  as  the  smell  of  smoke  in  the  roof  had  been 
perceived,  "  Sabriny "  had  dragged  her  babies  and 
children  from  their  lairs.  "Orson,  he  run  and  told 
Quintus  to  go  fetch  somebody  to  help  grandma ;  Ty- 
phosy,  she  waked  the  old  woman  up,  and  drefful  hard 
to  wake  her  it  was,  too ;  I  got  her  mother  out  o'  bed, 
and  Cesar  —  woll,  the  fust  thing  I  see  o'  Cesar  he 
went  up  on  the  roof,  with  a  blanket  an'  an  axe,  a  tryin' 
to  see  where  the  fire  was.  And  I  sez,  '  Cesar,'  sez  I, 
'you  can't  do  nothing  up  there  Cesar,'  sez  I;  and  jost 
that  minute  the  ladder  sort  o'  lurched,  sea-fashion  like, 
an'  Cesar  he  tumbled  right  down  on  the  axe,  and  he 
cut  hisself,  —  see  there,  Mr.  Tangier,  —  but  he  larfed, 
an'  I  larfed  too,  Mr.  Tangier,  'cos  they  was  n't  no 
need  cryin'  anyway." 

This  was  the  rather  lucid  account  of  the  fire  which 
Mr.  Tangier  received  from  Mrs.  Wotch,  who  had  never 
spoken  to  him  before,  but  who  regarded  him  as  a 
friend  because  he  had  taken  her  boy  when  he  went  for 
bluefish. 

It  was  a  ghastly,  melancholy  sight,  as  they  stood 
and  saw  the  torrent  of  fire  rise  into  the  sky  from 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  65 

those  miserable  walls.  Why  they  stood,  it  was  hard 
to  say.  What  there  was  within,  to  burn  with  that 
lurid  flame,  Mr.  Tangier  wondered.  Again  he  was 
reminded  of  effects  on  the  stage.  The  figures  of  the 
children  running  to  and  fro  between  him  and 
the  red  glow  were  like  little  devils  he  had  seen  in 
the  strontian-made  hells  of  the  opera.  On  one  side, 
almost  as  if  it  were  the  chariot  of  Ahriman  in  some 
spectacle,  was  "grandma"  seated  with  "ole  Aunt  Eu- 
nice,"—  whoever  she  might  be,  —  on  Virgil's  ox-cart, 
which,  with  more  speed  than  could  have  been  expected, 
had  been  brought  to  the  scene  of  action.  Virgil  lived 
on  the  other  side  of  the  pond.  He  was  by  far  the 
most  substantial  of  that  community,  half  black,  half 
Indian,  to  which  the  Joe  Turner  colony  belonged  in 
line  of  race.  So  soon  as  he  had  seen  the  light,  he  had 
remembered  Aunt  Eunice  and  grandma,  and  had  fas- 
tened his  oxen  into  his  wood-cart,  throwing  in  some 
cotton  quilts  for  their  comfort  at  midnight.  From 
his  side  he  arrived,  as  Mr.  Tangier  and  the  village 
people  arrived  from  the  other.  And  as  they  all 
stood  and  watched  the  flame,  the  patient  oxen  won- 
dered, and  the  two  old  women,  more  pleased  with  the 
excitement  than  distressed  by  any  fancied  loss,  pointed 
out  the  rise  or  fall  of  the  unsteady  flames,  and  gave 
such  accounts  of  it  as  suggested  themselves. 

"  There  goes  Jabe's  gun,"  as  a  sudden  discharge  in- 
timated that  the  wretched  duck-gun  had  been  heated  | 
hot  enough  to  fire  its  wad.  "  Them 's  Sabriny's  beds,"  j 
when  a  shower  of  sparks  seemed  to  show  that  the; 
straw  had  taken  fire.  But  such  comments  were  si-i 
lenced  by  Sabriny  herself.  She  had  been  counting 
up  her  jewels,  who,  one  might  fear,  had  never  been^ 


66  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

counted  before.  With  one  shrill  cry  she  silenced  all 
other  discussion. 

"  Ware 's  Nathan  ?  " 

Clearly  Nathan  was  not  present;  yet  he  had  been 
there  two  minutes  before. 

Ten  seconds  was  enough  for  the  whole  of  the  im- 
aginative party.  Each  person  had  put  himself  in 
Nathan's  place  in  fancy,  and  Sabriny  expressed  the 
feeling  of  all,  when,  in  a  cry  of  agony,  she  announced : 

"  He 's  gone  for  his  chicks." 

All  parties  changed  their  places.  It  seemed  there 
was  a  wretched  shed  on  the  other  side  the  cabin, 
scarce  big  enough  for  Joe  Turner's  cow  of  other  days, 
for  which  Joe  Turner  had  built  it.  Standing  outside 
the  rest,  it  had  not  burned  at  the  same  moment.  But 
on  the  outside  the  flame  had  already  run  along  the 
)hingles,  and  the  top  of  the  little  roof  was  of  a  blaze. 

Into  this  appendix  to  a  hovel  it  was  supposed 
Nathan  had  gone.  The  wretched  Sabriny  soon  fancied 
she  saw  his  form,  and  screamed  to  him. 

At  the  moment  she  did  so,  Mr.  Tangier  jumped  in 
at  the  window  of  the  shed  and  disappeared. 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  67 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ME.  TANGIER  arrived  suddenly  in  chaos. 
The  stillness  of  the  whole  scene  but  a  min- 
ute before,  as  the  flames  and  smoke  rose  into  the 
sky.  and  the  family  looked  on,  almost  without  a 
word,  had  seemed  strange  to  him.  With  his  plunge 
through  the  window  he  had  entered  a  very  different 
world. 

At  the  bottom  of  this  world,  as  a  critic  on  Dante 
might  say,  was  a  dirty,  deep  pit,  five  or  six  feet  be- 
neath the  surface  of  the  world  without,  to  which  Na- 
than usually  descended  by  a  ladder  from  the  cabin 
itself,  which  stood  upon  the  surer  level  of  mankind. 
Upon  this  rickety  ladder  Mr.  Tangier  fell  heavily  as 
he  sprang  through  the  window.  The  crazy  thing 
broke  with  his  weight,  and  he  came  heavily  down  on 
his  side  in  the  filthy  hay  and  straw,  which  was  heaped 
up  as  the  first  foundation  of  the  hens'  palace.  It  was 
pitch-dark;  for  the  wall  of  the  house  on  that  side 
had  not  given  way,  and  the  door  by  which  Nathan  had 
entered,  by  a  bit  of  forethought,  was  so  made  as  to 
swing  to,  after  it  had  been  opened,  which  prevented 
visits  from  the  poultry  into  the  kitchen  or  sitting- 
room  from  that  entrance. 

Nathan  was  himself  wallowing  in  the  muck-heap, 
doing  unequal  battle  with  a  cockerel  which  he  had 


68  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

seized.  The  hens  were  yelling  in  mad  flight  above, 
unintelligent  as  hens  always  are;  for  they  are  the 
most  stupid  animals  yet  discovered.  A  few  minutes, 
however,  were  enough  for  them.  The  open  window 
which  Mr.  Tangier  had  destroyed  gave  them  means  of 
escape,  which  they  had  not  before.  Nathan  had  sense 
enough  to  perceive  this,  and  let  the  rooster  follow 
them,  releasing  him  at  last  from  the  stout  hold  he  had 
kept  upon  his  legs. 

It  was  not  so  easy  for  Mr.  Tangier  and  Nathan  to 
follow,  and  withdraw  from  the  place  of  battle. 

The  hen-house,  like  everything  else  in  Sabriny 
Wotch's  way,  was  used  now  for  a  different  purpose 
from  that  for  which  it  had  been  made.  It  may  be 
added  that  it  was  as  nearly  unfit  for  the  purpose  of  a 
hen-house  as  it  could  be.  Nathan  had  himself  made 
the  ladder  by  which,  on  necessity,  he  could  descend 
into  it  from  the  low  doorway.  A  larger  doorway, 
which  opened  from  the  side,  was  closed  at  night 
against  the  attacks  of  foxes  or  fox-like  men,  and  was 
made  fast,  as  Nathan  hastily  explained  to  Mr.  Tangier, 
by  what  he  called  a  "  timber "  pushed  against  it  on 
the  outside.  It  opened  on  the  level  of  the  average 
world,  and  was  six  or  seven  feet  above  them  as 
they  stood,  or  reclined,  and  rapidly  discussed  the 
position. 

Mr.  Tangier  would  have  made  light  of  the  difference 
of  level,  —  did  make  light  of  it  at  first.  But  on  the 
first  effort  he  made  to  raise  himself  by  his  hands  from 
the  hole  in  which  he  and  Nathan  were  immured,  he 
found  to  his  disgust  —  not  to  say  his  dismay  —  that 
he  had  sprained  his  wrist.  The  fingers  of  the  hand 
refused  to  clasp  on  the  stone  of  the  cellar  wall  as 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  69 

he  bade  them ;  and  the  arm  itself,  from  elbow  to 
shoulder,  was  so  strained  that  he  found  it  hard  to  lift 
it  as  high  as  his  head. 

Here  they  were,  then,  safe  enough  for  the  minute, 
but  knowing,  both  of  them,  that  they  were  not  safe  for 
two  minutes.  He  would  have  been  a  bold  man  who 
would  have  sought  to  pass  through  the  burning  cabin. 
They  had,  however,  no  chance  for  such  desperate 
courage,  for  the  fall  of  the  ladder  had  made  retreat 
through  the  door  impossible.  The  window  which  had 
let  out  the  fowls  was  high  above  their  heads,  but  it 
seemed  the  only  feasible  escape.  For  a  little  light 
boy,  and  a  strong  and  athletic  man,  it  appeared  at 
the  first  an  easy  escape.  But  one  and  another  effort 
showed  the  man  that  he  was  not  strong,  and  showed 
him,  also,  that  fear  was  not  giving  his  companion 
wings.  On  the  other  hand,  the  lad  was  ineffably 
stupid  in  the  presence  of  danger,  and  had  already 
begun  to  cry. 

Once  and  again  with  his  left  hand  Mr.  Tangier  set 
up  against  the  wall  the  short  remaining  bit  of  the 
ladder,  lifted  the  boy  upon  it,  and  instructed  him 
as  to  the  best  way  of  clambering  to  the  sill  beam 
of  the  shed  above  them,  from  which  he  could  easily 
swing  himself  out  of  the  window.  Once  and  again 
the  fallacious  stick  rolled  away  under  the  boy,  and  he 
fell  heavily  back  in  the  mud-heap.  Mr.  Tangier,  in 
the  grim  presence  of  danger,  could  not  help  remember- 
ing John  Bunyan,  and  the  long-continued  and  useless 
labors  of  the  man  at  the  house  of  the  Interpreter. 
He  was  himself  well  aware  that  he  could  probably 
save  himself  only  by  using  the  counsels  which  he  gave 
the  boy.  But  he  had  not  entered  the  shed  so  abruptly 


70  MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS. 

simply  to  get  out  of  it.    And  the  closer  the  danger, 
the  clearer  was  his  duty. 

"  Is  n't  there  a  barrel,  Nathan  ?  is  n't  there  any  old 
box  here  ?  What  do  you  keep  the  corn  in  ?  " 

"  Ain't  no  corn.  Warn't  never  no  corn.  Never  feed 
'em  with  corn.  Ain't  got  none,"  sobbed  and  slob- 
bered the  boy. 

"Don't  cry,  Nathan,  don't  cry;  there  is  no  good 
in  crying.  Don't  you  think  of  anything  like  an 
old  rake,  or  a  pitchfork  ?  "  —  for  all  was  still  black 
darkness. 

"Ain't  no  pitchfork.  Never  was  none.  Dan  Hag- 
gerty,  he  stole  the  rake ;  come  'n'  got  it  day  I  Avas  at 
the  March  meetin',  'n'  never  fetched  it  back  agin  — 
never  had  no  rake  agin ! "  Thus  the  boy  blubbered,  as 
Mr.  Tangier,  with  little  help  from  him,  again  braced 
the  bit  of  stick  which  seemed  his  only  resource, 
placed  Nathan's  foot  upon  it,  and  bade  him  catch  by 
the  fowls'  roosting-rail,  and  swing  himself  toward 
the  window.  The  feeble  rail  broke  under  the  boy's 
weight,  and  he  fell,  much  as  Mr.  Tangier  had  done, 
and  blubbered  more  lustily  than  before. 

At  this  moment  a  sudden  lurid  light  relieved  them 
from  their  darkness.  But  the  relief  was  scarcely  en- 
couraging. It  simply  showed  Mr.  Tangier  for  the 
first  time  where  he  was.  It  explained  to  him  his 
strange  failure  thus  far,  which  had  seemed,  indeed, 
like  the  powerlessness  of  a  dream.  He  was  in  an 
oblong  hole,  roughly  walled  with  stones,  which  had, 
however,  been  laid  so  carefully  that  in  the  darkness 
they  had  given  no  hold  to  feet  or  fingers.  The  bottom 
of  this  hole  was  the  abyss  of  rotten  muck  which  he 
and  Nathan  had  been  sounding.  Above  it  was  the 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  71 

shed,  which  the  blaze  of  the  roof  enabled  him  for  the 
first  time  to  see. 

He  saw  also,  however,  —  and  in  an  instant  acted  on 
the  sight,  —  a  bit  of  board  above  his  head  which  had 
made  a  part  of  an  old  floor.  With  the  bit  of  ladder 
left  to  him  he  was  able  to  start  this  from  the  stones 
into  which  it  was  built.  By  word  and  example  he 
showed  the  boy  how  to  pull  with  him  upon  his  lever, 
and  in  an  instant  more  the  floor  board  fell.  They  set 
it  against  the  wall  so  that  it  gave  a  foothold  for  Na- 
than, and  Mr.  Tangier  lifted  him  so  that  he  might 
scramble  up  to  the  sill  of  the  shed.  But  at  that  mo 
ment  all  their  devices  were  made  unnecessar}1-,  as  the 
side  door  rolled  open,  and  screams  from  without  an- 
nounced the  anxiety  of  their  liberators.  In  half  a 
minute  more,  Nathan  and  Sabriny  were  blubbering  in 
each  other's  arms ;  Mr.  Tangier  was  thanking  his  res- 
cuers, and  receiving  their  voluble  excuses  for  their 
delay. 

The  truth  was,  that  the  moment  after  he  had 
dashed  in  at  the  window,  all  the  able-bodied  people 
around  him  had  understood  his  danger.  But  they 
had  lost  time,  as  people  in  panic  will,  in  relieving 
him.  "  Remphan,  he  hollered,  and  Jabe,  he  hollered, 
and  I  told  'em  both  to  fetch  the  ladder  ;  and  Jabe,  he 
said  the  ladder  was  behind  them  barberry-bushes,  and 
we  went  to  the  barberry-bushes,  and  they  wornt  no 
ladder  there.  An'  it  wornt  by  the  ox-cart  nither. 
'N'  then  Jabe,  he  says,  '  Run  like  hokey  'n'  open  the 
side  door.  They  '11  be  burned  to  death,  sure  ! '  says 
he.  My !  was  n't  I  frightened  wen  I  see  the  roof 
blazing ! " 


72  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER  X. 

MR.  TANGIER  came  down  to  breakfast  next 
morning  with  his  hand  tightly  bandaged 
by  Mrs.  Fairbanks's  care,  and  a  perceptible  odor  of 
hamamelis.  He  accepted  quietly  the  sympathies  of 
all  parties,  and  resigned  himself,  as  a  philosopher 
should  do,  to  the  discussion  held  in  caucus  as  to  what 
should  have  been  done  and  what  should  not  have  been 
by  all  parties  on  this  occasion. 

"  When  I  heard  that  it  was  a  hen-house  that  was  on 
fire,"  said  Mrs.  Hasey,  "  I  knew  that  you  would  have 
very  hard  times.  I  have  always  found  that  hens  were 
very  stupid  creatures.  Indeed,  Mr.  Tunis,  if  you  re- 
member, they  seem  to  have  no  brains.  I  have  studied 
hens  a  great  deal.  There  used  to  be  hens  at  the  place 
where  I  boarded  when  I  was  at  Yonkers,  and  I  always 
felt  sure  of  their  phrenology,  as  I  scanned  those  hens. 
They  have  no  brains,  indeed,  Mr.  Tunis ;  they  have  no 
brains." 

Mrs.  Floxam  was  not  a  person  who  took,  by  any 
means,  the  optimistic  or  good-natured  views  of  her 
aunt.  Perhaps  one  ought  to  speak  of  Mrs.  Floxam 
with  more  tenderness  than  most  people  did  speak  of 
her,  for  she  was  certainly  a  most  unfortunate  person. 
She  was  her  own  tormentor,  or,  as  Swedenborg  says  so 
wisely  and  well,  "she  carried  hell  about  with  her 
wherever  she  went."  Such  a  person  ought  to  be  pitied ; 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  73 

but  such  a  person  is  not  apt  to  be  pitied  in  this  world, 
which  is  made  up  of  people  of  different  motives,  and 
people,  indeed,  who  are  very  apt  to  speak  what  they 
think  at  the  moment,  without  giving  that  considera- 
tion to  their  words  which  a  true  religion  or  even  a 
profound  philosophy  would  warrant. 

Mrs.  Floxam,  then,  was  one  of  those  persons  who, 
perhaps  from  having  had  misfortune  in  early  life,  per- 
haps from  the  first  theology  of  her  early  life,  perhaps 
from  the  unsympathetic  friends  in  early  life  (who 
shall  say  for  what  perhaps  ?  )  always  ran  across  the 
current  of  thought  or  life  that  was  near  her. 

A  very  accurate  use  of  language  has  called  such 
people  "cross." 

Whatever  they  say  always  crosses  the  remark  of  the 
person  before.  Whatever  they  think,  they  are  sure  to 
think  that  all  that  is  around  them  is  wrong.  Thus,  if 
the  day  should  be  sunny,  they  are  eager  to  say  that  a 
rainy  day  was  desirable.  If  the  day  should  be  rainy, 
such  people  are  eager  to  say  that  the  weather  is 
always  bad. 

It  is  because  they  thus  cross  the  regular  drift  of  the 
river  of  life  that  such  people  are  called  cross  people. 
Mrs.  Floxam  was  certainly  cross. 

She  had  fallen,  by  this  time,  into  the  habit  which 
some  such  people  do  fall  into,  of  generally  paying 
no  attention  to  the  conversation  which  was  around 
her.  This  was  her  method  of  showing  the  perfect 
scorn  with  which  she  regarded  all  her  neighbors,  and 
her  indifference  to  their  affairs.  But  as  it  would 
happen,  that  after  the  conversation  had  well  begun, 
she  would  be  so  much  interested  in  it  that  in  spite  of 
herself  she  wanted  to  understand  what  people  were 


74  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

talking  about,  she  would  interrupt  the  regular  flow 
of  the  talk  to  ask  what  the  nominative  case  was,  and 
who  were  the  subjects  of  discord. 

To  Mr.  Tangier  this  lady  was  a  new  study,  and 
rather  an  amusing  one.  But  he  was  quite  indifferent 
to  her  patronage,  and,  as  it  happened,  he  had  never 
seen  a  person  who  had  set  herself  so  distinctly  against 
the  current  life,  or  Providence,  or  fate,  or  history.  It 
fairly  amused  him  to  see  how  much  inconvenience 
she  brought  upon  herself  by  the  steady  determination 
to  look  darkly  on  the  flow  of  things.  It  so  happened 
that  in  early  life,  in  some  transactions  in  which  her 
husband  engaged,  she  had  been  a  visitor  for  a  fort- 
night in  the  palace  of  the  Mexican  governor  of  the 
city  of  Coahuila,  where  was  maintained  a  good  deal  of 
the  state  of  old  Spain,  where  a  good  many  servants 
were  in  attendance,  and  where  the  etiquettes  had  still 
a  certain  European  method.  Mrs.  Floxam  was  never 
tired  of  alluding  to  these  days ;  and  she  spoke  of  them 
so  much  and  so  often,  that  one  might  readily  have 
imagined  that  the  greater  part  of  her  life  had  been 
spent  at  the  court  of  Madrid,  and  that  it  was  by  a 
mere  accident,  say  from  a  little  curious  experiment  on 
pastoral  follies,  that  she  had  ventured  upon  the  town 
of  Tenterdon  for  the  weeks  that  she  was  here.  If  any 
question  of  manners  or  decorum  turned  up,  Mrs.  Flox- 
am instantly  was  listening,  and  contrasted  the  behavior 
of  the  people  around  her  with  that  to  which  she  had 
been  accustomed  when  she  was  the  guest  of  Governor 
Cervantes.  If  the  company  were  divided  in  opinion 
on  any  subject  of  ethics,  or  even  of  politics,  it  always 
proved  that  Governor  Cervantes  had  uttered  some  ora- 
cle on  this  subject  which  ought  to  decide  it  for  each 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  75 

and  all.  Indeed,  the  younger  persons  of  the  assem- 
bly, till  they  became  used  to  Mrs.  Floxam,  held  them- 
selves in  perpetual  self-contempt  —  or  she  meant  that 
they  should  —  because  they  had  never  basked  under 
the  sunlight  of  Governor  Cervantes's  favor. 

It  was  only  after  people  had  been  in  the  same  house 
with  her  three  days  that  Governor  Cervantes  became 
an  amusing  shadow  of  a  shade,  and  they  began  to 
watch  to  know  at  what  moment  he  would  speak  out 
of  the  darkness  to  illustrate  and  improve  the  present 
time.  To  Mrs.  Hasey's  phrenological  speculations 
Mr.  Tangier  answered  good-naturedly  that  the  hens 
the  night  before  had  shown  a  certain  amount  of  prac- 
tical ability  which  neither  he  nor  Nathan  had  at 
command.  They  had  got  out  of  a  hole  which  he  and 
the  boy  had  found  it  more  difficult  to  escape  from. 
"I  dare  say,"  said  the  old  lady,  "if  running  away  is 
to  be  done,  hens  will  run  away  fast  enough.  I  am 
seventy  years  old,  Mr.  Tunis,  and  since  I  was  a  girl  of 
six  there  have  not  been  many  years  in  which  I  have 
not  had  to  run  after  one  or  more  hens,  and  sometimes 
have  known  that  the  dinner  I  was  to  eat  depended  on 
my  success  in  overtaking  them.  Yes,  if  flying  away 
is  the  first  end  of  two-legged  creatures,  the  hens  cer- 
tainly have  the  advantage  of  us.  But  which  of  my 
old  friends  the  Greeks  was  it,  who  said  that  you  and 
I  were  hens  without  feathers  ?  Mr.  Tunis,  that  was 
your  misfortune  that  you  could  not  mount  on  wings, 
as  you  should  have  done." 

Mrs.  Fairbanks  interposed,  and  said  that  she  had 
been  so  anxious  about  Mr.  Tangier's  hand  that  she 
had  not  asked  what  became  of  poor  Nathan,  for  whom 
so  much  risk  had  been  run.  Mr.  Tangier  laughed. 


76  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

"  When  I  left  him,"  lie  said,  "  he  was  quite  as  cheer- 
ful as  he  had  been  depressed  when  we  were  down  in 
the  dirty  straw.  I  scarcely  remember  to  have  seen  a 
more  sudden  contrast." 

"  Ah ! "  said  Mrs.  Hasey,  "  I  know  you  well ;  I  do 
not  doubt  you  gave  him  reasons  for  being  jolly.  A 
boy  like  that  is  quite  indifferent  whether  there  is  a 
house  over  his  head  or  not.  If  he  has  a  quarter  of  a 
dollar  in  his  hand  with  which  he  can  go  to  meet  the 
other  boys,  his  cup  is  full." 

By  this  time  Mrs.  Floxam  had  aroused  to  the  con- 
sciousness that  some  event  had  taken  place  the  night 
before  which  was  possibly  worthy  of  the  attention 
even  of  the  guest  of  General  Cervantes.  Till  this 
time  she  had  been  engaged  in  declining  hot  Indian 
cakes;  refusing  the  fricasseed  chicken  which  was 
offered  her,  saying  that  she  never  ate  cold  mutton ; 
asking  if  there  was  any  dry  toast  on  the  table,  and 
finding  that  there  was  none,  giving  an  order  for  it. 
She  had  sent  away  the  egg  which  she  broke,  because 
it  was  not  boiled  enough,  and  had  asked  Mrs.  Fair- 
banks to  give  her  another  cup  of  coffee,  without  sugar. 
Having  thus  done  all  she  could  to  make  the  people 
around  her  uncomfortable,  she  roused  up  now  to  the 
conversation  before  her,  and  asked  little  Flossy,  who 
sat  by  her  side,  who  it  was  that  they  were  talking 
about.  She  asked  this  with  a  certain  contemptuous 
air,  which  implied  that  of  course  they  were  persons 
who  would  not  have  been  received  at  the  court  of 
Coahuila.  The  little  girl  explained  that  there  had 
been  a  fire  at  Sabrina's  house,  and  that  Mr.  Tangier 
had  had  a  fall  there  which  was  the  reason  his  hand 
was  lame. 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  77 

"But  I  thought  somebody  said  something  about 
hens,"  said  Mrs.  Floxam,  contemptuously,  as  always. 

"  Yes,  my  dear,"  said  inextinguishable  Mrs.  Hasey  ; 
"I  said  that  hens  were  always  stupid,  and  Mr.  Tunis 
said  that  they  had  sense  enough  to  fly,  and  I  said  that 
they  were  always  good  for  getting  out  of  the  way 
when  they  were  wanted.  But  I  have  known  a  good 
many  people  of  whom  this  could  be  said." 

"  When  I  was  living  with  my  husband  in  the  city 
of  Coahuila,"  Mrs.  Floxam  said,  "  we  were  dining  one 
day  with  General  Cervantes,  who  was  the  governor  for 
life  of  that  province,  and  at  dinner-table  we  had  a 
Spanish  dish,  of  which  he  told  me  the  tradition  had 
been  brought  from  Castile  by  his  own  grandfather. 
I  have  never  seen  it  again,  and  I  doubt  very  much 
whether  it  could  be  made  with  our  poultry.  They 
dressed  it  with  tomatoes,  Mrs.  Fairbanks,  and  with 
rice.  If  you  like  I  will  write  out  to  one  of  the  Mexi- 
can ladies.  Perhaps  you  will  like  to  try  it  some  day 
here." 

Mrs.  Fairbanks  said  that  she  was  always  glad  of  a 
new  receipt  in  her  cook-book,  and  that  if  Mrs.  Floxam 
would  have  the  goodness  to  write  for  the  formula,  she 
would  make  some  experiments  with  it.  Why  Mrs. 
Floxam  had  made  the  suggestion,  it  is  rather  hard  to 
say;  for  with  the  immediate  desire  of  contradicting 
Mrs.  Fairbanks,  she  said,  without  the  least  pettishness, 
that  she  did  not  think  that  anybody  in  Tenterdon 
would  understand  the  delicacies  or  intricacies  of  Span- 
ish cooking ;  that  since  she  had  lived  in  Coahuila  she 
had  never  found  any  food  that  agreed  with  her,  and 
that  she  was  quite  sure  that  Mrs.  Fairbanks  would  fail 
if  she  tried  the  experiment  she  proposed.  Indeed,  she 


78  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

thought  the  breed  of  hens  in  Mexico  was  quite  differ- 
ent from  that  in  New  England.  She  had  more  than 
once  said  so  to  General  Cervantes  himself,  and  Gen- 
eral Cervantes  had  expressed  the  same  opinion. 

This  view  of  General  Cervantes  she  laid  down 
with  a  certain  decision  which  seemed  to  announce 
that  this  subject  was  exhausted,  as  they  say  in  the 
French  chambers. 

Mrs.  Hasey,  after  this  interlude,  returned  to  her 
sympathetic  talk  with  Mr.  Tangier.  She  offered  to 
cut  up  his  meat  for  him,  and  he  permitted  her  to  do 
so,  as  his  right  hand  was  entirely  disabled. 

"Now,  my  dear  Mr.  Tunis,  you  must  let  me  read 
you  your  newspaper  to-day.  We  have  got  you  on  the 
invalid  list,  and  we  mean  to  pet  you."  "Why,  my 
dear  Mrs.  Hasey,"  said  Mr.  Tangier,  laughing,  "I 
have  sprained  my  wrist,  but  I  have  not  sprained  my 
eyes.  Reading  my  newspaper  is  the  one  thing  that  is 
left  to  me.  What  I  am  in  doubt  about  is  how  I  am  to 
write  my  letters."  Then  he  added  that  that  was  ex- 
actly what  would  please  his  friend  Dr.  Morton,  who 
had  charged  him  not  to  write,  during  the  whole  of 
the  visit  to  Tenterdon,  any  more  than  should  be 
absolutely  necessary  to  keep  the  supplies  of  human 
life  a-going. 

"  He  did  say  that  I  might  draw  a  check,  if  I  was  at 
the  last  gasp  for  a  bit  of  bread  or  a  cup  of  coffee ; 
but  beyond  this  I  was  to  write  nothing  at  all.  As 
I  lay  awake  last  night  with  the  pain  of  this  hand,  I 
began  to  think  that  the  powers  which  rule  my  life 
had  leagued  themselves  with  Morton,  so  as  to  make 
perfectly  sure  that  his  directions  are  accomplished. 
Any  way,  it  is  quite  clear  that  I  shall  not  draw  any 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  79 

checks  for  the  next  month,  and  I  shall  be  living  on 
the  charity  of  you  who  are  around  me  here." 

"  What  do  you  say  about  charity  ? "  said  Mrs. 
Floxam,  rousing  herself  to  the  great  controversy  with 
life  again.  "  General  Cervantes  used  to  say,  and  my 
husband  agreed  with  him  entirely,  that  what  we  call 
charity  is  a  miserable  gift,  which  merely  makes  the 
poor  poorer,  and  makes  no  one  any  richer.  In  fact, 
General  Cervantes  thought,  and  my  husband  thought 
too,  and  I  am  sure  I  thought,  that  beggars  are  only  so 
many  plunderers  of  the  community,  and  that  if  we 
gave  less  to  them  there  would  be  fewer  of  them.  Is 
not  that  so,  Mr.  Tangier  ?  " 

Mr.  Tangier  did  not  know  Mrs.  Floxam  so  well  as  he 
came  to  know  her  before  this  month  was  over,  and  was 
a  little  amazed  at  finding  the  greatest  question  of  so- 
cial economy  flashed  upon  a  breakfast- table,  to  be 
decided  in  face  of  an  absolute  decision  by  an  infallible 
oracle.  But  he  always  took  things  good-naturedly. 
Mrs.  Floxara,  as  has  been  said,  amused  him  already ; 
and  in  reply  to  her  he  said,  "I  was  not  talking  of 
the  general  questions  of  charity,  Mrs.  Floxam.  I  ani 
ashamed  to  say  I  was  thinking  of  myself.  I  had  not 
come  upon  the  high  planes  which  General  Cervantes 
lived  upon.  No ;  my  business  in  Tenterdon,  I  believe, 
is  to  get  rid  of  the  great  subjects,  and,  indeed,  of  the 
little  ones  as  far  as  I  can.  And  I  have  made  a  begin- 
ning by  disabling  my  arm,  by  scratching  my  nose,  and 
by  making  a  fool  of  myself  generally,  as  far  as  I  can 
find  out.  But  all  the  same  I  find  I  can  eat  Mrs.  Fair- 
banks's  omelette  and  drink  her  coffee.  I  think  I  can 
ride  horseback,  and  I  am  by  no  means  sure  that  I  can- 
not steer  a  boat.  Mrs.  Hasey  and  I  have  a  good  many 


80  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

questions  to  settle  with,  regard  to  the  Greeks,  and  Eo- 
mans,  and  Polynesians,  and  the  rest  of  the  world,  and 
so  I  think  I  shall  not  give  up  the  world  in  despair 
quite  yet." 

Mrs.  Floxain  retired  into  her  silence  and  brooded, 
it  is  to  be  supposed,  upon  that  seventh  paradise  in 
which  she  had  lived  in  Coahuila,  intimating  for  a 
moment  in  her  manner,  as  she  had  before,  that  the 
world  of  Tenterdon  was  nothing  to  her  thought,  or 
that  of  General  Cervantes. 

The  irrepressible  Mrs.  Hasey  began  again :  "  I  was 
quite  wrong,  I  see,  Mr.  Tunis.  What  I  meant  to  say 
was  that  I  should  be  very  glad  to  write  for  you  if  my 
writing  were  not  so  very  old-fashioned  that  you  would 
be  only  ashamed  of  it.  And  my  spelling  is  not  quite 
perfect.  Indeed,  in  my  days  of  girlhood,  you  know, 
while  we  were  expected  to  write  a  little,  people  did  n't 
mind  very  much  if  we  spelled  very  badly.  I  was  very 
much  amused  the  other  day  when  I  found  in  one  of 
Mr.  Hale's  books  that  even  Mrs.  Washington,  Martha 
Washington  (Lady  Washington,  we  called  her  when 
I  was  a  girl),  did  not  spell  with  perfect  accuracy.  I 
thought  I  should  hold  her  up  as  a  great  example  of 
mine,  and,  indeed,  as  my  instructor,  when  I  next  saw 
the  schoolmistress.  There  are  some  poor  little  grand- 
children at  Patterson  made  to  learn,  I  don't  know  how 
many  lines  of  words,  and  spell  them  in  some  new 
fashion  which  I  did  not  in  the  least  understand,  every 
day  of  their  lives.  And  it  seems  now  that  the  mother 
of  her  country,  Martha  Washington,  spelled  '  lie '  with 
a  '  y '  and  <  middling '  with  one  ( d.'  I  was  very  much 
comforted  when  I  heard  of  this." 

"  Who  are  you  talking  about  ?  "  said  Mrs.  Floxam. 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  81 

"  Did  I  hear  some  one  speak  of  Martha  Washington  ?  " 
Mrs.  Hasey  said,  still  as  good-naturedly  as  ever,  "  Yes  ; 
it  appears  that  Martha  Washington  was  not  perfect  in 
her  spelling,  and  I  take  great  comfort  in  that." 

"  General  Cervantes  used  to  say,  when  I  lived  with 
my  husband  in  Coahuila,  that  he  thought  the  character 
of  Washington  had  been  very  much  overrated,  and 
that,  as  for  his  generalship  —  " 

Here  the  prompter's  bell  may  as  well  ring,  and  the 
curtain  may  fall  on  this  scene.  But  the  reader  who  is 
interested  in  Mr.  Tangier  will  remember  that  some 
such  conversation  as  this  passed  at  every  breakfast, 
at  every  dinner,  and  at  every  supper,  while  he  re- 
mained the  guest  of  the  anxious  but  hospitable  Mrs. 
Fairbanks. 


82  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

IT  was  very  soon  clear  that  Mr.  Tangier's  arm  and 
wrist  needed  more  skilful  care  than  Mrs.  Fair- 
banks's  tender  and  womanly  attentions.  She  had  sent 
a  boy,  indeed,  for  the  doctor  as  soon  as  she  had  ban- 
daged it  in  the  morning,  and  Mr.  Tangier  himself  was 
not  sorry  when  he  saw  the  doctor's  well-known  horse 
and  wagon  driving  up. 

The  two  gentlemen  had  become  very  fond  of  each 
other ;  and  whatever  happened  to  the  other  patients 
that  morning,  it  was  foreordained  that  Mr.  Tangier 
should  have  an  agreeable  call  of  an  hour  and  a  half 
from  a  man  whose  insight  and  foresight  he  already 
respected  sincerely.  The  doctor  did  not  give  any 
encouraging  prospect  for  a  speedy  use  of  the  wrist  or 
arm  in  any  very  vigorous  athletic  exercises.  Indeed, 
for  the  simple  matters  of  dressing  and  undressing 
himself,  Mr.  Tangier  had  already  found  that  he  must 
have  the  assistance  of  Silas  ;  and  he  needed  no  doctor, 
as  has  been  seen,  to  tell  him  that  he  could  not  write, 
even  if  it  were  to  draw  a  check  for  his  board  bill. 

But  the  two  soon  passed  beyond  the  talk  of  the 
patient  and  doctor  into  the  wider  talk  which  had 
once  and  again  engaged  them,  as  to  the  condition  of 
the  neighborhood  in  which  they  were. 

Here  was  this  curious  yearly  flood,  from  regions 
entirely  unlike  Tenterdon,  of  people  who  had  little 


MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS.  83 

enough  sympathy  with  the  dwellers  in  Tenterdon, 
very  little  knowledge  of  their  tastes  or  of  their  lives, 
and  who,  excepting  that  they  brought  a  certain  amount 
of  money  which  they  paid  in  return  for  the  eggs,  milk, 
bread,  and  other  human  necessities,  might  be  said  to 
have  no  dealings  with  them,  more  than  if  they  had 
been  Samaritans. 

On  the  other  hand,  here  was  this  rather  quaint  and 
old-fashioned  population  with  a  certain  self-respect 
which  involved  pride  in  their  home.  Yes ;  without  it 
they  would  most  certainly  have  left  it  and  gone  to  the 
more  engaging  fields  and  pastures  of  the  West.  They 
had  a  certain  dignity  which  belongs  to  people  who 
own  land,  and  gives  to  Heal  Estate,  with  a  large  "  B  " 
and  a  large  "E,"  the  right  to  be  spelled  with  two 
large  letters.  Here  were  these  people  who  saw  the 
annual  flood  of  summer  visitors  pour  in  with  a  certain 
satisfaction  and  a  certain  wonder.  In  the  autumn, 
they  saw  it  pour  out  with  much  greater  satisfaction, 
for  they  dropped  back  upon  their  old  habits.  They 
had  not  to  hold  themselves  on  their  dignity  against 
a  certain  patronizing  habit  of  the  new-comers.  And 
they  had  in  their  pockets  the  silver,  and  possibly 
the  gold,  which  the  new-comers  had  left  behind 
them. 

"  It  reminds  me,"  said  Tangier,  "  of  that  queer  story 
in  the  '  Arabian  Nights/  which  I  have  quoted  from  a 
good  deal,  of  the  palace  by  the  seaside,  to  which  there 
came  the  forty  people  on  wings,  who  stayed  forty  or 
seventy  days  (I  forget  what  oriental  number),  and 
then  were  forced  by  their  fate  to  gather  themselves  \\p 
and  go  off  for  a  time,  leaving  that  poor  fellow  stranded 
there  alone.'' 


84  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

"  Only  the  poor  fellow,  as  you  call  him,"  said  the 
doctor,  —  "I  am  the  poor  fellow  you  see  in  the  parable, 
—  was  by  no  means  very  sorry  to  be  left  alone,  al- 
though he  hoped  that  his  agreeable  companions  would 
come  again.  In  the  real  story,  which  is  not  the  story 
of  the '  Arabian  Nights,'  he  girds  himself  for  the  winter; 
he  repairs  his  damages ;  he  builds  his  bay-window  here 
and  his  new  piazza  there ;  he  paints  his  house  and  his 
blinds ;  he  rakes  up  his  avenue,  and  wonders  by  what 
means  he  may  entice  in  a  few  more  of  these  flying 
houries  whom  he  calls  boarders,  when  the  next  year 
comes." 

"  I  am  glad  you  take  it  like  a  philosopher,"  said  Mr. 
Tangier.  "  We  are  both  philosophers,  and  I  should  say 
that  the  business  of  the  time  was  to  see  how  this  flood 
(for  we  may  as  well  change  our  figure)  can  do  some- 
thing real  to  fertilize  the  land  over  which  it  flows."' 

The  doctor  laughed.  "  Very  much  obliged  to  you," 
he  said.  "  I  have  always  heard  that  the  earth  which 
slips  into  the  Missouri  Eiver  makes  the  Mississippi 
water  itself  the  most  palatable  water  in  the  world. 
And  the  people  in  the  low  countries  there,  think 
that  it  is  a  very  fountain  of  health  and  long  life. 
Let  us  try,  while  we  are  here  about  it,  to  see  that 
the  returning  flood  may  carry  something  away  from, 
the  land  which  will  be  of  permanent  benefit  to  itself 
and  to  others." 

"I  beg  your  pardon;  I  beg  your  pardon,  my  dear 
fellow,"  said  Tangier.  "  My  metaphor  misled  me,  and 
I  was  painfully  conscious  of  this  when  I  was  half 
through  what  I  said.  You  know  what  Heine  says : 
'Save  me  from  the  devil  and  the  metaphor.'  And 
Heine  is  perfectly  right.  Half  the  follies  of  human 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  85 

argument  come  from  the  people  who  let  their  meta- 
(  phors  run  away  with  them.  What  I  mean  is  what 
you  mean.  It  is  absurd  that  two  sets  of  people  who 
are  really  cousins  of  each  other  should  lead  two  lives 
as  different  from  each  other  as  this  summer  life  is 
from  this  winter  life." 

The  doctor  said  in  reply,  that  he  had  once  seen  a 
very  striking  letter  from  that  gentleman  to  whom  this 
country  is  so  largely  indebted,  Mr.  Frederick  Olmsted, 
who  said  in  it,  that  much  as  he  had  done  for  the  rural- 
izing of  the  great  cities  in  the  establishment  of  the 
great  parks  which  owe  their  plans  to  him,  he  felt  that 
the  other  work  of  urbanizing  the  country  was  a  work 
no  less  important. 

"  It  seems  to  me  that  it  is  a  work  which  has  already 
begun,  and  that  it  is  a  very  easy  work.  Think  of  the 
admirable  instructions  given  to  the  whole  country,  — 
think  of  the  admirable  impulse  which  is  given  by 
the  universal  habit  of  reading,  and  by  the  universal 
facilities  of  the  post.  I  look  with  reverence  on  this 
broken-winded  fellow  who  goes  through  here  with 
his  spavined  horse,  and  his  almost  unpainted  carriage, 
every  day  with  the  mails.  He  takes  on  all  the  as- 
pect of  Hogarth's  angel  descending  on  the  pool  of 
Bethesda.  He  has  no  wings  which  other  people  see, 
but  all  the  same  he  is  an  angel.  He  is  a  messenger 
of  light  and  truth ;  and  if  he  brings  with  him  a  good 
many  circulars  of  quack  doctors,  they  go  to  their  own 
places  and  are  forgotten.  But  the  light  is  never  ex- 
tinguished, and  the  truth  is  never  made  dumb."  "You 
are  quite  right,"  said  Tangier,  "  that  is  what  one  has 
on  one's  side ; "  and  then  he  added  very  seriously, 
"the  Almighty  is  always  on  one's  side,  and,  as  that 


86  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

Italian  used  to  say,  'Time  is  with  us.'  I  am  im- 
mensely interested  in  all  that  I  see  here  of  the  deter- 
mination of  the  best  people  to  do  the  best  with  what 
there  is,  and  their  refusal  to  be  ground  down  by  the 
scorn  of  such  fools  as  my  friend  Mrs.  Floxam  here. 
I  am  interested  in  seeing  how  such  things  are  regarded 
by  the  dwellers  on  the  soil.  At  the  same  time,  I  hate 
to  see  any  aspect  of  conflict  between  the  new-comers 
and  my  friend  who  drove  me  over  the  other  day.  I 
am  glad  to  see  that  he  is  no  longer  afraid  of  me.  And 
on  the  other  hand,  from  the  very  first  I  formed  a  cer- 
tain respect  for  him. 

"  I  told  you  how  the  district  scnool  impressed  me. 
Now,  there  is  a  thing  born  from  the  nature  of  the  case. 
There  is  a  thing  in  which  the  good  sense  of  these  peo- 
ple has  had  its  own  way.  There  is  no  nonsense  about  it. 
But  the  first  thing  I  shall  hear  will  be  that,  in  a  stupid 
desire  to  imitate  the  mistake  which  the  great  cities 
have  made,  these  people  will  be  wanting  to  extend  their 
school  and  keep  it  open  ten  months  in  the  year. 

"  The  truth  is,  that  the  exact  merit  of  the  thing  is 
that  it  grew  out  of  the  conditions  of  the  country. 

"  These  children  go  to  school  in  the  summer  enough 
to  show  them  what  school  life  is,  what  books  are,  and 
to  give  them  a  very  good  entrance  into  the  mysteries 
of  letters  and  of  figures.  Just  when  they  begin  to  lag 
a  little  in  their  attention,  the  curtain  falls  and  they 
are  turned  out  into  the  open  air. 

"  They  begin  to  learn  what  God  Almighty  has  done 
for  them  in  his  wisdom  and  in  his  providence.  They 
know  the  difference  between  a  horse  and  a  cow ;  they 
know  the  difference  between  an  eagle  and  a  dove; 
they  know  the  difference  between  salt  marsh  and  fresh 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  87 

•  meadow.  This  is  more  than  any  of  the  children  know 
whom  I  have  the  pleasure  of  hiring  as  office  boys. 
These  boys  run  free,  their  lungs  open,  their  legs  and 

,  arms  are  educated,  their  hands  are  trained.  A  boy  can 
drive  a  nail :  as  likely  as  not  he  can  shoe  a  horse ; 
certainly  he  can  saddle  one  and  can  harness  one. 

'  "  When  the  snow  begins  to  fall,  things  at  home  be- 
come a  little  more  quiet,  and  of  a  sudden,  thanks  to 
the  wisdom  of  the  fathers,  as  I  say,  for  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years,  the  school-house  opens  again.  All 
these  boys  and  girls  gather  there.  They  make  the 
pleasant  and  friendly  acquaintances  which  they  ought 
to  make  thore.  They  are  brought  together  in  the 
healthiest  form  of  society,  with  the  common  interest 
which  their  books  give  to  them.  They  go  to  work  on 
these  books  with  an  eagerness  and  a  relish  which  your 
boy  in  a  New  York  high  school  does  not  conceive  of, 
and  your  girl  in  a  Chicago  school  never  dreamed  of. 
In  the  eleven  or  twelve  weeks  of  the  winter  school 
they  learn  as  much  as  would  be  learned  in  any  of 
these  grand,  highly-polished  city  establishments  in 
six  or  eight  months.  What  is  more,  they  learn  it  in 
the  right  way.  They  learn  it  each  as  a  separate  hu- 
man being ;  while  in  your  magnificent  graded  system, 
which  I  hear  a  great  deal  about,  they  learn  very  much 
as  a  shoe-last  learns,  which  is  made  into  its  shape  with 
one  hundred  and  forty-seven  other  shoe-lasts  which 

i  are  manufactured  in  the  same  hour. 

"  Then,  so  soon  as  they  are  well  started  upon  this, 
the  school  closes,  you  say.  The  school-houses  close, 
but  the  school  does  not  close.  The  books  exist ;  the 
taste  for  study  exists;  the  mutual  sympathies  exist; 
and  all  along,  in  the  different  homes  of  those  children, 


88  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

if  the  children  are  good  for  anything,  they  are  learn- 
ing the  winter  through.  They  are  there  continuing 
the  training  which  they  began  under  the  direction  of 
the  teacher.  I  say  if  the  children  are  good  for  any- 
thing. If  the  children  are  good  for  nothing,  I  see  no 
great  use  of  attempting  to  polish  base  metal,  or  to 
carve  any  stone  which  will  not  keep  the  carving." 

Tangier  had  become  quite  eloquent  as  he  made  this 
address.  But  Dr.  Tillinghast  did  not  laugh  at  his 
eloquence ;  he  was  interested  in  the  views  he  took, 
which  were  the  views  he  had  stated  himself  hundreds 
of  times  to  different  people,  who,  however,  seldom 
listened  to  him,  as  in  this  world  people  seldom  do 
listen  to  anybody.  "Every  word  you  say  is  gospel 
truth,"  he  said  in  reply,  "and  the  analogies  of  the 
school-house  seem  to  me  to  be  the  analogies  to  build 
upon.  That  is  the  reason  I  wanted  to  take  you  over 
to  hear  that  magnificent  music  which  we  heard  in  the 
town-hall  yonder.  That  man  had  relied  upon  the  in- 
telligence and  enthusiasm  of  his  neighbors.  He  had 
used  that  intelligence  and  enthusiasm  to  a  purpose, 
and  it  proved  he  had  not  relied  in  vain.  In  your  mod- 
ern system  of  bargain  and  sale,  every  one  of  those 
performers  would  have  had  to  sign  a  long  written 
contract.  The  man  who  banged  four  times  on  the  top 
of  a  kettle-drum  would  have  signed  one  in  which  that 
man  should  bind  himself  to  be  present  at  such  and  such 
rehearsals,  and  at  such  and  such  performances,  and  by 
which  it  could  be  shown,  if  anybody  cared  to  show  it, 
that  each  bang  on  the  kettle-drum  was  for  two  cents 
and  a  quarter,  or  fifteen  cents  and  a  half.  In  place  of 
all  that  miserable  mercantile  haggling  over  the  details 
of  music,  you  are  able  to  rely  here  on  the  generosity, 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  89 

and  courage,  and  public  spirit  of  the  people.  Every 
one  plays,  as  the  boy  played  in  the  story  about  Men- 
delssohn. He  played  his  trombone  because  the  great 
master  wanted  to  have  the  trombone  played.  Every 
one  that  you  heard  on  the  platform  the  other  day 
played  in  that  way.  Now,  if  you  are  talking  of  har- 
mony, if  you  are  talking  of  real  music,  if  you  are 
talking  of  that  which  is  agreeable  to  God  and  man, 
as  a  child  of  God,  that  is  what  you  want.  You  do 
not  want  fourteen  cents'  worth  of  music  served  out 
to  you  because  you  have  bought  a  ticket  which  is 
worth  fourteen  cents.  You  want  the  exuberant  and 
harmonious  union  of  five  people,  or  of  fifty  people, 
who  have  come  together  because  they  love  music, 
and,  so  far  at  least,  love  God  and  man.  They  are 
doing  their  best  to  express  that  love." 

Tangier  assented  sympathetically,  and  said:  "You 
played  your  best  card  first.  You  showed  me  the  best 
possible  illustration  which  I  could  have  had  of  the 
common  life  of  an  ideal  communit}r.  I  always  said 
that  if  I  went  out  as  a  missionary,  I  would  not  begin 
by  telling  the  people  what  was  the  last  sweet  improve- 
ment, either  on  Calvin's  doctrine  or  on  the  doctrine 
of  Pelagius.  I  would  begin  by  bringing  together  those 
who  wanted  to  sing  old-fashioned  psalm  tunes,  and 
they  should  sing  old-fashioned  psalm  tunes  together 
till  they  found  out  what  the  word  '  together '  meant. 
When  they  had  found  out  that,  we  would  see  what 
they  could  do  with  that  great  discovery." 

"I  understand  you,"  said  the  doctor;  "and  if  you 
and  I  carry  out  our  views,  I  think  it  must  be  upon 
those  lines  that  we  are  to  work.  Old  Ramsdell  and 
the  deacon  will  quarrel  till  the  crack  of  doom  about 


90  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

the  flow  of  the  water  over  the  dam  up  at  Cropsy's, 
yonder.  But  for  all  that,  old  Kamsdell's  father  and 
the  deacon's  grandfather  marched  shoulder  to  shoulder 
the  day  the  English  frigate  was  aground  off  the  rips, 
and  one  of  them  rammed  down  the  cartridge  while  the 
other  touched  off  the  cannon.  The  deacon  and  Rams- 
dell  would  do  the  same  thing  to-morrow,  if  there  were 
any  public  exigency  worthy  of  the  occasion.  And  you 
have  only  to  show  them  that  there  is  a  public  exigency, 
demanding  a  public  library,  or  demanding  such  a 
musical  institute  as  they  have  in  the  factory  town 
yonder,  or  demanding  any  improvement  in  the  lyceum, 
or  demanding  any  improvement  in  the  ornament  of  the 
square,  and  you  will  find  that  those  two  men,  though 
they  will  hardly  speak  to  each  other  on  the  street, 
are  willing  to  work  together  in  the  common  cause. 

"  In  fact,  this  is  a  Commonwealth,  and  the  genius 
of  the  Commonwealth  impressed  itself  upon  all  New 
Englanders  very  early  in  the  matter.  Touch  them  on 
the  side  of  their  public  spirit,  and  there  is  a  good  deal 
more  to  rely  upon  than  appears  upon  the  surface. 
But  you  must  be  sure  that  it  is  the  public  that  de- 
mands it.  You  must  be  sure  that  Ramsdell,  as  an  in- 
dividual, is  not  to  be  benefited  more  than  any  other 
individual.  The  deacon  must  be  quite  sure  that  Mrs. 
Fairbanks  does  not  want  to  sell  a  lot  of  land  from  her 
orchard,  or  that  I  am  not  interested  in  having  a  shorter 
way  when  I  go  over  to  my  patients  at  the  Mill  Village. 
It  is  for  the  public  that  these  people  will  pay,  that  they 
will  work,  as  for  the  public  they  have  been  willing  in 
old  times  to  die.  And  their  one  weak  point  is  that 
they  are  apt  to  suspect  a  cat  under  the  meal,  and  to  be 
afraid  that  there  is  a  job  hidden  away  somewhere." 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  91 


CHAPTER  XII. 

MR.  TANGIER  found  no  fun  in  sailing,  now  that 
his  hand  was  disabled.  He  could  not  throw 
a  line  for  bluefish.  He  started  to  ride  on  horseback 
one  day,  and  Dr.  Tillinghast  arrived  just  as  he  was 
scrambling  on  his  horse  from  the  old  horse-block.  The 
doctor  scolded  him  quite  as  he  deserved,  much  as  Mor- 
ton had  done  when  he  sent  him  to  Tenterdon.  Very 
unwillingly,  Tangier  scrambled  back  off  his  horse. 
But  such  rebuffs  as  this  awaited  him  every  day. 

They  probably  threw  him  back  more  than  anything 
else  would  have  done,  on  his  long  conferences  with 
Mrs.  Dunster,  and  the  doctor,  and  Mr.  Burdett,  on 
social  improvement.  Mrs.  Dunster  had  now  some 
nieces  staying  with  her,  and  one  night  there  was 
almost  a  formal  conclave  on  the  great  problem  of 
Tenterdon's  society.  Mrs.  Dunster  told  what  she 
called  her  North  Somerset  story.  Some  one  had 
asked  the  teacher  of  the  academy  in  North  Somerset 
why  she  dropped  a  term,  and  spent  her  time  in  Boston 
instead.  She  laughed  and  said,  "Spend  your  winter 
in  North  Somerset,  and  you  will  know.  In  Boston, 
I  have  a  free  library  to  read  in  what  I  choose.  I 
have  free  galleries  to  visit  when  I  choose.  I  can  hear 
a  concert  of  the  best  instrumental  music  for  quarter 
of  a  dollar.  And  every  evening,  if  I  choose,  I  can 
go  to  hear  Huxley,  or  Wallace,  or  Dawson,  or  whoever 


92  MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS. 

happens  to  be  lecturing,  or  I  can  listen  to  Phillips 
Brooks,  or  Freeman  Clarke,  and  I  am  welcome." 

Mr.  Tangier  listened  to  this  story  half  amused,  and 
much  edified. 

So,  with  more  formality  than  was  at  all  worth  while, 
Mr.  Tangier  went  into  rather  grave  social  discussions 
about  wealth  in  common  and  the  commonwealth.  He 
had  been  a  good  deal  interested  by  this  story  of  the 
schoolmistress,  and  he  said,  what  was  true  enough, 
that  she  was  gladly  availing  herself  of  the  resources 
which  the  whole  community  in  that  city  received  from 
the  wealthy  people  who  had  gone  before.  If  Mr. 
Joshua  Bates  chose  to  buy  for  her  the  books  for  her 
to  read,  why  should  the  girl  go  back  to  North  Somer- 
set and  buy  her  own  ?  If  Mr.  Higginson  chose  to 
provide  for  her  the  best  music  in  the  world,  why 
should  she  go  back  to  North  Somerset  and  play  upon 
a  badly-tuned  piano  ?  Mr.  Tangier  said  that  she  was 
using  the  common  wealth  which  the  public  spirit  of 
this  generation  and  of  other  generations  had  provided 
for  her.  And  it  was  very  natural  that  she  should  like 
that  common  wealth  better  than  she  should  the  sepa- 
rated property  of  such  a  town  as  he  supposed  North 
Somerset  was. 

"  Yes,  and  this  is  all  very  grand,  if  you  will  permit 
me  to  say  so,"  said  May  Remington,  one  of  the  nice 
nieces  who  has  been  mentioned.  "And  I  do  not 
doubt  that  the  young  lady,  who  I  dare  say  was  a  very 
nice  young  lady,  used  all  these  pleasures  and  was  glad 
to  use  them.  But,  if  you  will  permit  me,  I  will  tell 
you  another  thing  which  she  liked,  which  was  called, 
as  I  suppose,  the  accumulated  wit  of  the  day.  I  liked 
it  too.  She  liked  to  be  able  to  walk  on  a  dry  side- 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  93 

walk,  and  she  liked  to  be  able  to  get  into  a  street-car 
and  go  where  she  chose,  and  pay  five  cents  for  it.  So 
far  as  I  know,  the  main  difficulty  of  our  life  here  in 
Tenterdon,  which  I  believe  Mr.  Tangier  thinks  needs 
improving,  is  that  half  the  year  we  cannot  go  any- 
where without  putting  on  India-rubber  boots.  Then 
our  skirts  are  so  draggled  that  we  catch  cold  as  soon 
as  we  get  home.  And  if  we  want  to  ride  anywhere 
we  must  coax  Jonas,  or  Silas,  or  John,  or  whoever  it 
may  be,  to  harness  the  horse.  He  will  be  cross.  He 
will  say  the  horse  has  a  shoe  off.  And  it  makes  such 
a  fuss  that  it  ends  in  our  staying  at  home.  There,  in 
a  word,  is  the  reason  why  your  country  is  less  social 
than  your  great  city;  and  is  the  reason  why  your 
schoolmistress,  who  likes  society  as  well  as  you  like 
it,  and  as  well  as  I  like  it,  —  this  is  why  she  pre- 
ferred to  spend  six  months  where  she  could  get  so- 
ciety, to  spending  them  where  she  was  obliged  to  read 
Shakspeare  and  Milton  at  home.  Shakspeare  and 
Milton  were  very  good  and  great  men ;  but  I  do  not 
myself  believe  that  the  learned  men  who  advise  me 
to  enter  into  companionship  with  these  leaders  of 
the  past  sit  more  than  four  hours  a  day  reading 
Shakspeare,  or  more  than  three  hours  a  day  read- 
ing Milton." 

Mr.  Tangier  was  interested  and  amused  at  once  by 
this  frank  statement  of  Miss  May.  He  acknowledged 
that  he  had  not  thought  of  that,  and  he  said  to  her, 
"  Then  I  suppose,  in  our  reconstruction  of  society,  you 
would  begin  by  laying  a  railroad  track  for  street-cars. 
That  is  not  generally  supposed  to  be  the  first  effort 
of  civilization.  The  theory  in  New  York  is  that  it  is 
the  last  decline  of  a  degenerate  age." 


94  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

"You  might  do  a  worse  thing,"  said  Miss  May,  "but 
I  do  not  want  to  have  a  street  railroad.  What  I  want 
is  what  I  believe  the  people  of  Provincetown  did. 
They  had  some  money,  —  some  surplus  revenue,  I 
think  it  was  called,  —  and  they  had  a  town-meeting 
to  see  how  they  would  spend  it.  It  was  agreed  that 
a  plank  sidewalk,  from  one  end  of  the  town  to  the 
other,  was  the  best  thing  they  could  spend  it  upon, 
and  upon  that  they  spent  it." 

"  They  were  quite  right,"  said  the  doctor.  "  After 
all,  civilization  begins  with  the  making  of  roads. 
That  is  an  old  hobby  of  mine.  If  you  trace  back 
the  germ  of  civilization,  you  will  find  that  it  is  not 
in  the  school-house,  as  some  people  say.  It  is  not 
even  in  the  blacksmith-shop,  as  other  people  say.  It 
is  not  even  in  the  building  of  a  meeting-house,  as  the 
eulogists  of  our  old  Puritan  forefathers  are  apt  to  say. 
Civilization  really  begins  when  a  set  of  men  make 
a  road  through  a  swamp  or  a  trail  through  a  forest. 
Civilization  means  society,  and  society  means  the  way 
by  which  I  go  from  one  man's  lair  to  another." 

"Of  course,"  said  Miss  May,  "you  should  see  how 
everybody  waits  at  the  window  and  is  ready,  if  by 
great  good  luck  Mrs.  Fairbanks  here  has  the  sewing- 
circle  at  her  house,  and  has  intimated  up  the  road 
that  the  'Barge'  will  pass  along  between  two  and 
three  o'clock,  because  the  mud  is  so  bad  at  the  Wil- 
lows. People  do  not  want  to  sit  still  and  crochet, 
when  they  can  come  to  Mrs.  Fairbanks's  and  hear  her 
read  Browning.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  they  do  not 
waut  to  put  on  India-rubber  boots,  and  if  the  expres- 
sion were  proper  I  should  add,  —  they  do  not  want  to 
sit  four  hours  with  wet  feet  or  ankles." 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  95 

"  Not  much,"  said  the  good-natured  doctor,  "  if  they 
have  ever  heard  one  of  my  first-class  scoldings."  And 
it  would  seem  from  the  glances  between  him  and  Miss 
May  that  she  knew  what  he  meant. 

"  I  see  truth,  and  infinite  truth,  in  every  moment," 
cried  Mr.  Tangier.  "  Why  will  no  one  take  up  Miss 
Remington's  parable  ?  What  she  tells  me  explains 
things  untold  by  Carey,  or  Say,  or  Foxwell,  —  why 
the  pressure  is  on  cities,  and  why  the  country  is 
abandoned." 

"  You  shall  not  laugh  at  me,  Mr.  Tangier." 

"  I  laugh  at  you  ?  I  beg  your  pardon.  I  am  seri- 
ously in  earnest.  I  believe  you  have  hit  on  the  cen- 
tral thing.  We  are  social  beings.  We  go  where  we 
can  easily  have  society.  There  is  the  whole  of  it.  If 
sidewalks  give  society,  we  go  where  there  are  side- 
walks. If  a  street-car  gives  it,  hurrah  for  the  street- 
car!" 

"And  are  the  New  York  aldermen,"  asked  Mrs. 
Fairbanks,  thoughtfully,  "are  they  apostles  of  the 
new  civilization  ?  " 

"  Unconscious  apostles,  yes ;  for  even  Satan  serves 
the  servants  of  the  Lord.  I  had  no  qualms  of  con- 
science when  I  last  took  a  Broadway  car." 

"  I  can  assure  you,"  said  Miss  May,  "  that  many  a 
nice  girl  goes  to  New  York  or  to  Boston  for  a  long 
visit,  with  this  for  one  of  her  chief  satisfactions, — 
that  now  she  can  take  her  exercise;  that  from  February 
to  May  she  will  not  be  blocked  up  in  the  house." 

"And  for  Tenterdon,"  said  Mr.  Tangier,  "the  pro- 
phet is  to  be  not  so  much  one  in  camel-skin,  eating 
locusts  and  honey ;  he  is  rather  to  be  James  Haraden 
with  his  grays.  I  wish  the  oldest  one  were  not 


96  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

sprained.  But  perhaps  the  '  Bedouin  Liniment '  will 
cure  him.  I  read  the  bill  yesterday,  —  it  cures  every- 
thing except  thunder-humor  and  blind  staggers." 

Then  the  talk  fell  on  details  of  what  had  been  done 
in  a  social  way  in  Tenterdon,  and  what  had  failed. 
Mostly  it  turned  on  questions  of  rooms  for  concerts, 
halls  for  dancing.  There  was  no  whisper,  as  Mr. 
Tangier  observed,  of  social  inequalities  or  religious 
discords.  But  the  practical  obstacles  to  bringing  fifty 
people  together  in  one  place  were  represented  as 
enormous. 

This  is  a  good  enough  specimen  of  the  talk  which  oc- 
cupied the  meeting  at  Mrs.  Dunster's ;  and  some  of  the 
results  of  the  talk  will  appear  as  our  story  goes  on. 

They  all  agreed  that  it  would  be  quite  possible  to 
bring  the  people  of  Tenterdon  together  sometimes,  so 
that  they  should  know  each  others'  faces,  if  there  were 
a  convenient  place  where  they  might  meet.  And  the 
doctor  was  rather  tempted  to  "  switch  off "  here  into 
learned  discussions  about  the  word  "synagogue,"  and 
the  Roman  and  Greek  places  of  meeting,  and  the  im- 
portance that  these  places  of  meeting  had  on  the 
growth  of  civilization.  But  they  all  laughed  at  his 
learning,  and  told  him  that  the  essential  thing  was  to 
find  in  Tenterdon  some  spreading  oak  beneath  which 
it  should  be  quite  warm  in  winter  and  quite  cool  in 
summer,  and  where  they  could  have  the  fifth  sym- 
phony of  Beethoven,  or  the  play  of  Harry  the  Fifth, 
or  a  spelling-bee,  or  anything  else  that  they  wanted  to 
have,  without  either  freezing  to  death  or  roasting. 

Then  came  an  examination  which  to  Mr.  Tangier 
was  very  curious,  as  to  the  several  resources  of  the 
town  for  such  things.  He  asked  his  friends  if  there 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  97 

were  any  traditions  of  other  days  where  people  had 
met,  when  they  had,  perhaps,  a  victory  to  celebrate, 
or  to  sew  for  soldiers,  or  on  any  other  public  occasion. 

Then  it  appeared  that  the  old  stage-house,  as  every- 
body called  it,  had  been  the  scene  of  all  these  gather- 
ings. And  it  came  out,  almost  by  accident,  that,  with 
the  decline  of  the  old  stage-coach  system,  the  society 
of  the  town  really  declined  also.  For  this  old  stage- 
house  was  a  place  where,  from  east  to  west,  and  from 
north  to  south,  the  stage-coaches  of  that  day  stopped, 
their  horses  were  watered,  or  perhaps  their  horses 
were  changed.  The  passengers  breakfasted,  or  dined, 
or  took  their  supper,  or  bought  a  lunch.  There  was 
some  excitement  at  the  place,  some  reason  for  the  peo- 
ple coming  together  there.  The  post-office  was  there ; 
the  blacksmith's  shop  was  there.  What  was  more  to 
the  point,  there  were  large  rooms  in  the  stage-house. 
One  dance-room  Mrs.  Dunster  remembered  as  being  a 
room  in  which  sixty  couples  could  form  in  the  Vir- 
ginia Keel,  and  this  showed  that  it  must  have  been  a 
place  of  considerable  size. 

But  with  the  railroad  all  this  had  come  to  an  end. 
The  stage-house  was  left  half  or  quarter  of  a  mile  out 
of  the  way.  The  last  use  it  had  been  put  to  was  to 
make  it  a  sort  of  barrack-house  for  some  laborers  whom 
the  Government  employed  when  they  were  building  the 
breakwater,  and  now  it  was  really  used  for  nothing. 
Mr.  Tangier  had  noticed  it  in  his  rides  as  a  forlorn, 
broken-down  sort  of  a  place,  with  many  signs  hanging 
out,  indicating  that  it  was  for  sale  if  anybody  wanted 
to  buy  it,  and  with  an  occasional  hole  through  a  win- 
dow. But  most  of  the  windows  were  boarded  up,  for 
fear  of  an  attack  from  wayward  boys. 

7 


98  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

MR.  TANGIER'S  mind  rested  on  the  stage-house. 
He  spent  one  or  two  days  in  inquiries  as  to 
the  ownership  of  the  house,  as  to  the  feasibility  of 
restoring  it  into  a  sort  of  central  place  for  the  hospi- 
talities of  the  town ;  and  these  inquiries  ended  in  his 
obtaining  permission  to  make  use  of  the  old  dining- 
hall  and  the  old  dancing-room  for  any  purpose  which 
he  might  have  in  mind.  He  accordingly,  with  the 
assistance  of  Mrs.  Fairbanks,  issued  a  joking  invita- 
tion to  the  heads  in  the  "  social  movement,"  as  he  in- 
sisted on  calling  it,  to  meet  him  for  a  picnic  lunch  one 
day  at  the  stage-house,  and  examine  what  were  its 
possibilities.  He  sent  in  advance  his  old  friend 
Warner,  and  his  protege  Nathan,  to  get  the  doors 
open  and  to  do  some  preliminary  sweeping,  and  at 
least  clean  up  chairs  enough  for  them  to  sit  upon,  and 
a  table  on  which  Mrs.  Fairbanks  could  give  them  a 
cup  of  coffee  and  something  to  eat. 

For  Mr.  Tangier  was  master  of  the  great  central  law 
of  hospitality, — that  hospitality  means  more  than  salt, 
perhaps  more  than  bread  and  butter ;  it  means  the  fit 
refreshment  of  the  bodily  frame,  and  the  refreshment 
together.  People  must  have  something  to  eat  or 
drink  together,  if  anything  is  to  succeed  in  this 
world. 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  99 

A  very  jolly  and  merry  party  lie  brought  together. 
It  was  on  a  Saturday,  so  that  his  little  schoolmistress 
could  come  over  from  her  district,  and  he  had  collected 
almost  all  the  other  teachers  too.  They  came,  some- 
what on  their  dignity,  doubtful  what  they  were  to 
come  for,  and  very  much  afraid  lest  they  should  com- 
mit themselves.  This  is  the  fashion  of  their  craft. 
But,  before  the  hour  was  over,  they  were  jolly,  and  as 
sociable  as  any  one  else  was;  and  they  really  knew 
the  town  and  the  people  of  the  town  better  than  any 
one  else  did,  excepting  always  the  doctor  and  the 
minister.  This  is  to  be  observed  in  general  of  the 
district  schoolmistress  in  New  England,  or  the  keeper 
of  any  public  school,  that,  if  you  talk  of  general  ser- 
vice to  the  public,  these  young  people  are  the  most 
valuable  public  servants  that  you  have,  and  do  most 
to  bring  together  the  different  classes  of  society  and 
to  keep  open  the  lines  of  social  promotion.  Mr.  Tan- 
gier, with  his  right  arm  still  in  the  sling,  and  Mrs. 
Dunster,  welcomed  their  guests  very  cordially,  and  it 
proved  that  the  party,  with  the  additions  which  have 
been  named,  and  some  others,  was  quite  large.  They 
met  in  the  old  office,  or  bar-room,  of  the  hotel,  into 
which  various  chairs,  some  with  three  legs  and  some 
with  four,  had  been  brought.  There  were  different 
settees,  which  had  remained  from  old  times,  and  the 
table  in  question,  spread  with  a  white  cloth,  had  its 
coffee  and  chocolate  ready  for  the  welcome  of  those 
who  had  come  from  a  distance.  When  it  seemed  that 
almost  every  one  was  present,  Mr.  Tangier  himself  led 
the  way  to  the  old  dancing-room. 

Here  they  all  sat  down  at  the  little  picnic  which 
Mrs.  Fairbanks  had  provided.  A  very  jolly  feast  it 


100  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

made.  "When  hunger  and  thirst  were  fully  satis- 
fied," Mr.  Tangier  proposed  that  they  should  summon 
the  elect,  whoever  the  elect  were,  and  interest  every- 
body in  the  project  of  re-establishing  the  old  hotel  as 
a  central  point  for  the  gatherings  of  the  neighbor- 
hood. Different  people  contributed  different  sugges- 
tions, and  it  ended  in  an  agreement  that  the  clans 
should  be  rallied  for  the  next  Saturday.  Saturday 
was  the  day  determined  upon,  because  Saturday  was 
the  day  when  all  the  teachers  could  be  present ;  and 
there  was  a  certain  tradition  of  a  half -holiday,  which 
gave  them  the  help  of  the  bigger  boys  and  the  young 
men. 

Fortunately,  also,  they  were  at  the  time  between 
planting  and  hoeing,  which  in  the  country  is  traditional 
as  a  time  when  people  may  go  a-visiting,  or  may  attend 
to  their  amusements.  Mr.  Tangier  and  the  doctor  and 
and  Mrs.  Dunster  acted  as  hosts.  In  the  week  which 
had  passed,  Mr.  Tangier  had  been  in  personal  relations 
with  the  present  proprietors  of  the  hotel.  They  were 
glad  to  have  even  a  nibble  of  a  tenant,  although  he 
gave  them  no  definite  promises  for  the  future.  It  was 
agreed,  in  New  England  fashion,  that  he  was  to  have 
the  occupancy  of  the  house  for  the  next  two  months, 
"  if  they  could  n't  do  nothing  better  with  it,"  and  that 
they  should  give  him  fair  notice  if  they  could  do 
anything  better  with  it.  A  very  low  rent,  almost 
nominal,  was  fixed  for  these  two  months,  with  the 
understanding  that  this  was  to  make  no  precedent 
for  the  future.  In  fact,  both  parties  had  come  to- 
gether, as  men  of  New  England  blood  like  to  come 
together,  in  a  certain  vague  determination  on  both 
sides  that  they  would  do  "about  what  was  right," 


MR.  TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  101 

though  neither  side  knew  exactly  what,  in  future,  he 
might  wish  to  do. 

To  the  satisfaction,  and  even  to  the  surprise,  of  the 
head  centres  of  the  "movement,"  the  attendance  of 
boys  and  yoxmg  men  was  a  good  deal  larger  than  they 
had  dared  expect.  But  each  of  the  teachers  had  two 
or  three  loyal  supporters  among  the  older  of  her 
winter  scholars ;  and  it  had  been  enough  to  intimate 
to  them  that  there  was  a  project  for  some  union  fes- 
tivities, or  union  meetings,  at  the  hotel,  to  induce 
them  to  be  willing  to  lend  a  hand.  And  their  assist- 
ance proved  very  effective.  Among  them  was  a  cer- 
tain young  fellow  by  the  name  of  Pingree,  who  was, 
however,  always  called  Silas,  who  had  taken  the  pre- 
caution to  bring  with  him  his  box  of  carpenter's 
tools,  and  who  proved,  as  the  vernacular  says,  "awful 
handy "  with  tools,  and  whose  tools  were,  indeed, 
freely  used  by  all  the  young  men.  They  had  all  been 
trained  to  the  work  of  a  farm,  which  implies  a  handy 
use  of  all  carpenter  materials. 

As  before,  Mr.  Tangier  led  the  way  to  the  great 
dancing-room  of  old  times.  In  those  days  it  had 
opened  by  large  doors  upon  an  outer  piazza,  to  which, 
strange  to  say,  people  had  been  able  to  ride  up  and 
enter  the  ball-room  directly,  without  the  intervention 
of  any  anterooms.  These  great  double  doors  had  been 
long  since  disused,  excepting  when,  in  the  spring  and 
autumn,  they  were  opened  that  the  place  might  be 
made  a  sort  of  storage  room  for  the  sleighs,  which 
were  only  used  for  a  few  months  in  winter.  Half  a 
dozen  sleighs  of  every  pattern,  therefore,  and  every 
conceivable  sort  of  lumber  were  in  the  room,  and  the 
object  of  the  present  gathering  was  to  clear  it  out, 


102  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

and  prepare  it,  as  it  could  best  be  prepared,  for  the 
purposes  which  were  intended.  It  would  be  hard  to 
say  what  was  not  to  be  found  there.  As  they  worked, 
they  came  upon  four  little  pulpits,  which  had  been 
used  in  some  traditional  time  by  a  lodge  of  Masons 
which  had  occupied  the  room. 

While  the  ladies  were  encouraging  the  young  men, 
and  the  young  men  were  laughing,  lifting,  and  piling 
the  various  affairs  which  had  been  stored  away  no- 
body knew  how  long,  Mrs.  Fairbanks,  to  her  great 
delight,  came  upon  a  roll  which  evidently  was  faded 
bunting,  in  which  her  experienced  eye  discovered 
more  than  flags.  She  called  upon  John  Whitcomb, 
whose  ready  knife  cut  the  old  strings.  The  roll  was 
developed  on  the  floor,  and  it  proved  to  have  various 
mottoes,  —  "  Honor  the  Brave,"  "  Welcome  Home," 
"  Newburne  and  Washington,"  "  Olustee,"  "  Cross- 
Creek,"  and  others  which  were  almost  Greek  to  the 
young  people.  "  Alas  and  alas  ! "  said  Mrs  Hasey, 
"that  you  should  not  remember  the  names  of  the 
battles  in  which  your  own  fathers  lost  their  lives, 
perhaps.  But  I  ought  to  rejoice,  I  suppose,  that  in 
these  days  of  peace  we  forget  that  there  was  any 
war."  Mrs.  Fairbanks  was  well  pleased.  She  said 
that  this  bunting  and  those  mottoes  marked  the 
time  when  the  room  was  last  used,  as  she  supposed, 
for  any  public  festival.  And  she  herself  remembered 
that,  as  a  little  girl,  she  was  not  permitted  to  come. 
But  when  their  company  came  back  from  the  war, 
she  knew  that  there  was  a  welcome  and  reception 
there,  and  a  great  feast  given,  and  these  were  the 
memorials  of  that  day.  Mr.  Tangier  took  up  the 
tattered  rags  with  a  certain  reverence.  "We  will 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  103 

connect  ourselves  with  the  past,"  he  said,  "  We  will 
use  these  flags  as  a  part  of  our  decorations.  Let 
us  hope  that  our  boys  may  be  as  brave,  and  our 
girls  as  willing,  as  were  the  boys  and  girls  of  that 
generation." 

Silas  pulled  out  the  nails  which  were  the  only  locks 
on  the  great  doors.  He  repaired  some  broken  boards 
in  the  piazza.  He  set  up  a  "  joist "  as  a  temporary 
pillar  where  one  of  the  Doric  columns  of  the  piazza 
had  fallen  out,  and  then,  having  opened  the  folding- 
doors,  called  upon  willing  hands  to  pull  out  one,  two, 
three,  and  the  rest  of  the  sleighs  which  had  been 
waiting  for  the  next  winter.  Meanwhile,  some  of  the 
young  men  discovered  what  would  be  needed  most, 
and  had  made  some  birch  brooms  which  would  be 
sufficient  for  the  severest  sweeping.  The  boys,  at  the 
direction  of  the  women,  had  lifted  seats  here  and 
chairs  there.  Hot  water  and  sand  had  been  brought, 
and  the  old  pulpits  had  been  scrubbed  and  washed, 
and  by  the  aid  of  half  a  dozen  centres  of  action, 
as  the  hours  flew  merrily  by,  the  room  began  to 
assume  the  aspect  of  a  place  which  could  be  possibly 
inhabited. 

Mr.  Tangier  had  set  some  of  the  smaller  boys  to 
work,  to  creep  in  behind  the  rubbish  and  go  around 
on  the  outside  of  the  building,  so  as  to  tell  him  how 
many  panes  of  glass  were  cracked,  and  how  many 
were  broken,  in  the  enormous  windows  which  had 
formerly  lighted  it.  Some  of  these  windows  were 
covered  with  boards,  and  some  were  so  left  that  they 
could  still  admit  light.  Different  boys  brought  in 
their  returns,  now  marked  on  a  shingle,  now  marked 
on  a  slate,  and  now  in  the  less  reliable  form  of  their 


104  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

own  memories.  But  he  wished  to  give  his  orders  in 
a  more  thorough  way.  Still  he  was  fettered  by  his 
lameness,  as  always,  and  looked  around  rather  wist- 
fully to  see  what  arrangement  of  paper  or  pen  might 
be  made  from  any  old  pack  to  serve  his  purpose. 
May  Remington  caught  his  eye,  and  what  was  almost 
a  frown  upon  his  face,  —  a  frown  born  from  the  sense 
of  incapacity,  which  is  so  annoying  to  a  strong  and 
active  man.  When  the  girl  asked  what  she  could  do, 
he  smiled  again,  and  confessed  that  the  sense  of  power- 
lessness  annoyed  him,  and  that  he  wanted  to  write 
down  the  information  which  these  boys  were  bringing 
to  him. 

"  I  suppose  if  I  were  a  shepherd  on  the  plains  of 
Arabia,  I  could  remember  for  seventeen  years  how 
many  lights  are  wanted  which  are  eight  by  ten,  and 
how  many  which  are  fourteen  by  twelve.  But  being 
nothing  but  a  lawyer,  I  am  used  to  having  such  things 
on  paper." 

"  If  that  is  all,"  said  the  girl,  "  come  back  with  me 
into  the  parlor,  and  make  me  your  secretary."  Then 
she  called  the  boys,  one  after  another,  and  made  them 
follow  her. 

Mr.  Tangier  followed  willingly  enough,  too,  but 
wondered  how  the  writing  was  to  be  done.  But 
almost  before  he  could  express  his  wonder,  the  girl 
had  taken  from  her  own  hand-bag  a  little  portfolio, 
small  enough  to  go  into  it,  had  opened  the  spring  ink-, 
stand  which  belonged  to  her  portfolio,  and  then,  in 
the  same  good-natured  way,  said,  "Now  begin,  Mr. 
Tangier ;  you  have  rubbed  the  lamp,  and  the  genie  is 
ready." 

Mr.  Tangier  was  pleased  —  as  well  he  might  have 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  105 

been  —  with  the  genie  of  the  lamp.  She  took  at  once 
the  idea  of  what  he  wanted,  and  she  and  he  together 
soon  brought  the  somewhat  wild  statements  of  the 
boys  into  something  like  system.  Fitz-James  and 
Cephas  had  to  be  sent  back  once  or  twice  for  the  re- 
vision of  statements  which  were  quite  incredible.  But 
after  a  little  it  was  quite  clear  that  they  would  need 
so  many  new  panes,  and  that  it  would  be  well  that 
they  should  have  ten  or  twelve  new  sashes.  Miss 
Eemington's  ready  calculation  gave  the  size  of  the 
sashes,  and  a  measurement,  undertaken  by  Silas  Pin- 
gree,  confirmed  the  accuracy  of  her  arithmetic.  Mr. 
Tangier  was  now  engaged  in  what  he  liked.  There 
was  something  tangible  and  visible  to  be  done,  and 
he  saw  no  reason  why  he  should  not  do  it.  He  sent 
for  Mr.  Burdett,  who  appeared  in  a  minute  with  his 
staff,  —  two  or  three  bright  and  ready  boys. 

"You  look  like  the  Earl  of  Southampton  and  his 
train  in  '  Kenilworth,' "  said  Tangier,  in  open  ad- 
miration. "Which  of  these  boys  is  to  be  William 
Shakspeare  ?  " 

"  I  dare  not  say.  We  think,  now,  that  we  will  all 
be  good  ship-carpenters,  and  build  better  sloops  than 
the  '  Mayflower.'  But  we  shall  see  what  we  shall  see. 
Thank  you  for  seeing  that  we  live  on  the  feudal  prin- 
ciple. These  boys  are  my  staff,  — I  am  chief  of  staff, 
—  and  there  are  three  or  four  others  as  good  as  they. 
Are  there  not,  Fred  ?  " 

"  Five  more,"  said  Fred,  blushing  proudly  enough, 
"  five  more,  sir,  but  off  on  duty." 

Mr.  Tangier  wac  well  pleased.  Every  such  intima- 
tion that  these  young  people  were  recognizing  the 
great  law  of  "Together"  pleased  him,  and  gave  him 


106  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

new  hope.  "I  sent  for  you,  Burdett,  to  show  you 
these  figures,  which  ray  good  genius  here  has  made  for 
me.  Is  there  any  reason  in  the  world  why  we  should 
not  go  ahead,  now  and  here  ?  No  powers  of  good  can 
wish  to  proloug  the  reign  of  smashed  windows,  as  it 
seems  to  me." 

Mr.  Burdett  looked  at  the  figures.  He  explained 
them  to  the  boys  at  the  right  hand  and  at  the  left,  as 
he  did  so,  as  if  they  were  his  comrades  rather  than  his 
followers.  "  The  sooner  the  better,  if  we  are  sure  of 
going  on." 

"  Of  course  we  are  sure  of  going  on.  That  is,  I  am 
sure  of  going  on.  I  am  not  used  to  taking  hold  of 
things  that  fail.  Burdett,  no  ship  can  be  launched 
till  the  whole  ship  is  built.  It  does  not  answer  to 
build  the  forecastle  and  launch  that,  hoping  that  the 
forecastle  may  make  a  voyage  which  will  pay  for  the 
stern.  Unless  you  build  the  whole  vessel,  you  fail." 
He  saw  the  boys  were  listening  amused,  and  he  went 
on  to  them :  — 

"  That  seems  to  you  very  simple,  boys.  But  it  is  a 
great  truth,  which  the  world  often  forgets.  Many  an 
enterprise  fails  because  people  start  when  they  are 
only  half  ready."  Then,  turning  to  Mr.  Burdett,  "I 
do  not  see  why  I  should  not  do  this  now.  Eeally,  we 
need  for  our  launch  very  little.  Tell  me,  who  was 
that  tall,  wide-awake  fellow,  whose  eye-teeth  were  so 
perfectly  cut,  whom  you  stopped  to  talk  to,  the  day 
we  rode  to  Goodwin  ?  " 

Mr.  Burdett  did  not  remember  at  first ;  but  when  the 
wide-awake  fellow's  wagon  was  described,  his  span  of 
white  horses,  and  his  ladder  in  the  wagon,  he  stood 
revealed  at  once  as  Scott  Meakin,  the  master  carpen- 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  107 

ter  of  Goodwin.  The  day  they  had  met  him,  he  was 
going  to  Clavers  to  shingle  a  barn. 

"  The  same,  the  same,"  said  the  now  impetuous  Mr. 
Tangier.  "Now,  what  reason  is  there,  human  or  di- 
vine, why  this  Scott  Meakiu  shall  not  be  called  into 
the  social  reformation,  and  made  to  put  in  new  sashes, 
of  which  Miss  Remington  has  so  clear  an  idea  ?  Let 
him  bring  with  him  some  glazier,  half  as  clever  as  he, 
Galileo  Silex  —  or  whatever  his  godfather  may  have 
called  him." 

"Of  course,"  said  Mr.  Burdett,  laughing,  "there  is 
no  reason  why  he  should  not  come,  if  you  are  willing 
to  pay  him." 

" '  Of  course,'  do  you  say,  —  innocent  dove  that  you 
are,  fresh  from  the  study  of  the  Chaldee  Polyglot !  'Of 
course  ! '  There  may  be  many  reasons,  my  dear  Miss 
Remington,  my  dear  young  friends  of  the  staff  —  par- 
don me  if  I  am  compelled  to  show  to  you  some  of  the 
wisdom  of  this  world  in  contrast,  alas !  with  this  heav- 
enly ignorance  of  our  dear  friend  Mr.  Burdett." 

He  was  laughing,  and  they  were  all  laughing  now. 

"  You  see,  dear  Miss  Remington,  there  may  well  be 
another  joiner,  or  carpenter,  or  house-builder,  or  archi- 
tect—  perhaps  seven  inches  nearer  to  us  than  Scott 
Marden,  or  whatever.  Or  this  other  man  may  have 
put  in  the  sashes  originally,  or  his  father  may.  Or  he 
may  vote  the  same  ticket  with  the  man  who  owns  the 
hotel,  my  friend  Frink,  or  belong  to  the  same  lodge. 
And  our  friend  Scott  may  vote  another  ticket,  and  be- 
long to  no  lodge.  Many,  many  are  the  reasons,  my 
dear  dominie,  why  Scott  Meakin  may  be  the  wrong 
man.  But  I  like  his  looks,  and  know  he  will  do  our 
work  well,  if  I  may  send  to  him." 


108  MR.     TANGIER'S    VACATIONS. 

Mr.  Burdett  was  not  shaken.  There  was  no  rival 
joiner;  Scott  Meakin  was  the  only  man  any  one  in 
the  neighborhood  would  dream  of  sending  to  in  such 
an  exigency. 

"  Then,"  said  Mr.  Tangier,  "  we  will  go  and  see  him 
to-morrow." 

"  Why  not  write  to  him  now  ?  "  said  May  Reming- 
ton,  perfectly  simply. 

Mr.  Tangier  was  surprised  this  time.  But  he  was 
pleased.  He  was  both  pleased  and  surprised  that  a 
young  girl,  whom  he  had  only  seen  as  a  summer  vaca- 
tioner, should  know  how  much  might  hinge  on  twenty- 
four  hours.  He  was  pleased,  if  not  surprised,  that  both 
she  and  Mr.  Burdett  were  entering  with  such  perfect 
cordiality  into  his  plans.  But  he  answered,  with  mock 
melancholy,  "First,  Miss  Remington,  because  I  have 
no  hand  to  write  with;  second,  because  I  have  no 
paper;  third,  because  there  is  never  an  envelope." 

"  You  do  not  say  because  there  is  no  ink,  or  no  pen  ; 
for  both  are  on  the  table.  Here  is  the  paper,  now ; 
here  is  the  envelope,"  she  said  quickly,  as  she  pro- 
duced both,  "and  here  is  the  hand."  She  paused  just 
a  moment,  blushed  a  little  at  her  own  courage,  and 
then  said,  "'How  shall  we  ever  reorganize  society'  — 
I  think  that  is  your  grand  phrase  —  if  everybody  does 
not  '  lend  a  hand '  ?  That  is  our  modest  phrase." 

The  girl  had  not  the  least  idea  how  her  simplicity 
and  courage  together  affected  him.  That  any  one  felt 
as  he  felt,  that  there  was  something  worth  doing,  that 
he  was  not  on  a  quixotic  enterprise,  in  which  other 
people  humored  him,  and  that  this  bright  young  wo- 
man saw  its  possibilities,  —  all  this  encouraged  him. 
More  than  this,  he  knew,  as  a  man  of  affairs,  that  the 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  109 

saving  of  a  day,  even  in  such  a  petty  affair,  might 
mean  the  saving  of  a  week. 

"I  cannot  so  much  as  sign  my  name,"  said  he.  "But 
you  and  I  can  make  Scott  What  's-his-name  come  over. 
Let  us  write  as  you  say.  Burdett,  you  and  the  boys 
may  go  back  to  your  sweeping.  Miss  Remington  and 
I  will  put  in  the  windows." 

And  he  dictated  his  letter,  and  watched  with  plea- 
sure the  easy,  quick  movement  of  her  hand,  and  her 
round,  pretty,  large,  and  legible  handwriting.  He 
went  into  every  detail  with  the  builder,  told  him 
where  he  would  be,  and  asked  for  an  early  interview. 
When  the  letter  seemed  finished  he  looked  it  over, 
made  no  correction,  thanked  her,  and  said  :  — 

"  We  may  as  well  tell  him  to  bring  over  a  paper- 
hanger.  Those'  walls  look  like  Noah's  ark." 

And  at  this  moment  a  knot  of  young  men  came  to 
ask  the  two  to  join  the  others  in  the  dining-room. 

This  invitation  surprised  Mr.  Tangier.  With  all 
his  high  notions  about  hospitality,  he  had  still  re- 
garded this  assembly  as  a  party  for  work,  and  it  had 
not  occurred  to  him  that  it  could  be  made  a  festival. 
But  as  he  came  into  the  old  diuing-hall,  and  found 
there  all  the  arrangements  for  a  hearty  meal,  it  was 
explained  to  him  that  some  of  the  young  men  of  the 
Knights  Templars  had  taken  the  entertainment  in 
hand  at  their  meeting  the  night  before.  They  had 
been  asked  to  the  working-bee,  and  this  seemed  a  good 
way,  and  a  good  place,  to  help.  So  they  had  hastily 
arranged  the  feast.  Their  only  anxiety  had  been  to 
keep  all  the  preparations  secret  from  Mr.  Tangier, 
Mr.  Burdett,  Mrs.  Fairbanks,  and  Mrs.  Dunster. 

And  in  their  secret  they  had  wholly  succeeded. 


110  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

"|VT  OTHING  could  have  met  Mr.  Tangier's  wishes 
J.NI  so  completely  as  did  this  unexpected  picnic 
provided  by  the  young  men.  It  had  annoyed  him,  in 
all  his  stay  at  Tenterclon,  that  he  was  not  making  the 
acquaintance  of  men  of  his  own  age,  and  men  five, 
ten,  and  fifteen  years  younger.  He  fancied  that  they 
were  shy  of  him ;  and  yet  he  was  always  cordial  in 
his  approaches,  without  being  too  cordial.  The  truth 
is  that  the  young  men  were  at  work.  ^They  had  their 
own  companions ;  they  had  no  need  of  his  society. 
And  on  the  one  hand,  they  were  too  proud  to  put 
themselves  upon  a  man,  who,  they  thought,  might  not 
want  to  know  them ;  on  the  other  hand,  they  were 
too  modest  to  suppose  that  a  stranger,  coming,  as 
was  said,  for  his  health,  needed  other  society  than 
he  found  in  his  books  or  in  his  immediate  neigh- 
bors. Thus  it  happened  to  Mr.  Tangier,  as  it  often 
happens  to  a  man  staying  in  such  a  place,  that  he 
knew  a  dozen  of  the  women  where  he  knew  one  of 
the  men. 

He  began  his  talk  with  Drummond,  —  who,  though 
not  the  president  of  the  company  who  were  their 
host,  seemed  to  be  the  acting  man,  —  by  saying  that  he 
was  glad  that  anything  had  called  together  so  many 
of  the  neighbors,  and  that  he  thought  it  gave  a  good 
omen  for  the  usefulness  of  the  hall  which  they  were 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  Ill 

trying  to  refit.  Drummond  answered  very  cordially 
that,  so  far  as  the  Temple  went,  they  would  be  very 
glad  if  the  hall  could  be  put  into  good  order.  There 
had  been  traditions  that  it  had  been  used  for  some 
such  purpose ;  he  hardly  knew  why  that  use  had  been 
given  up.  As  matters  stood,  they  would  be  as  glad 
as  anybody  if  they  could  have  the  use  of  it  for  some 
of  their  meetings  ;  and  he  expressed,  very  frankly  and 
simply,  his  pleasure  that  there  was  any  movement  in 
that  direction. 

He  showed  so  much  real  interest  in  this  that  Mr. 
Tangier  ventured  to  put  to  him  some  of  the  questions 
which  they  had  not  solved  in  their  caucus  on  Mrs. 
Dunster's  piazza.  He  asked  him,  first  of  all,  why  it 
was  that  the  men  seemed  to  herd  together  so  much  as 
they  did,  and  the  women  also.  "  Of  course  this  is  not 
natural,"  said  Mr.  Tangier,  good-naturedly.  "  The  boys 
and  girls  go  together  to  the  same  school ;  men  are 
going  to  marry  women  eventually.  Why  is  it  that, 
in  the  intimacies  of  young  people,  the  young  men  are 
all  in  one  set  of  clubs  and  the  young  women  are  all  in 
another,  and  that  there  seems  to  be  a  sort  of  hitch 
when  any  effort  is  made  to  bring  them  together." 

Drummond  laughed  at  first,  and  then  looked  very 
serious.  He  said,  "  I  hardly  know  whether  you  will 
agree  with  me,  but  I  am  apt  to  think  that  the  girls 
themselves  are  partly  to  blame  in  this.  I  hardly  ever 
read  a  story  in  a  magazine  which  pretends  to  explain 
country  life  in  America,  but  it  seems  to  me  to  make 
the  matter  rather  worse  than  it  was  before.  If  you  will 
think  of  it,  Mr.  Tangier,  you  will  see  that  a  very  large 
number  of  our  young  men  go  from  the  country  at  once 
to  the  active  life  of  the  world.  They  go  to  the  West, 


112  MR.   TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

or  they  go  to  New  York  or  the  other  large  cities,  and 
there  are  comparatively  few  of  us  left  here  at  home. 
I  had  the  curiosity  once  to  make  a  little  census  of  the 
matter,  and  even  I  was  surprised  to  see  how  many 
families  there  were  here  in  Tenterdon  in  which  two  or 
three  girls  were  left,  while  all  the  boys  over  fifteen 
had  gone  to  the  West,  or  to  Boston,  or  to  Lowell,  or 
to  New  York. 

"But  this  is  not  the  whole.  Take  the  people  in 
this  room.  There  is  hardly  a  young  lady  in  this  room 
but,  after  she  had  gone  through  with  our  district 
school  work,  was  sent  to  the  high  school  at  Wood- 
stock, or  some  female  college,  maybe,  or  in  some 
other  way  had  a  year  or  two  added  to  the  schooling 
she  received  here.  On  the  other  hand,  we  boys  (I  am 
one  of  them,  though  I  am  twenty-five  years  of  age) 
went  to  work  at  once  on  the  farm,  or  over  in  the 
mills,  lucky  if  we  could  spell  English,  or  could  write 
a  hand  that  did  not  disgrace  us.  Really,  Mr.  Tangier, 
when  our  own  sisters  come  home  from  the  high  school, 
or  academy,  or  college,  or  what  not,  we  are  by  no 
means  sure  that  we  can  talk  with  them  about  the 
great  things  they  have  been  reading.  I  cannot  read 
French;  my  sister  Mary  can.  I  can  play  a  few 
chords  on  a  melodeon,  but  I  cannot  pretend  to  talk 
of  musical  criticism  with  her.  I  am  glad  enough  to 
read  my  'Tribune'  when  it  comes  in  the  evening, 
but  I  don't  know  anything  about  the  books  that  she 
has  been  reading  at  school.  And  I  am,  in  short,  but 
a  very  indifferent  companion  for  her  in  such  things 
as  those.  On  the  other  hand,  she  finds  half  a  dozen 
old  neighbors  among  the  girls  who  are  glad  to  keep 
up  their  French,  or  are  glad  to  be  reading  some  new 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  113 

book  together.  They  come  together,  with  or  without 
form,  at  their  little  meetings,  and  naturally  talk  about 
the  things  that  interest  them. 

"  For  me,  on  my  part,  for  these  fellows  around  us 
here,  we  do  not  need  their  society ;  we  have  society 
enough  of  our  own.  This  temperance  business,  which 
calls  us  together  in  this  Temple,  or  any  work  there  is 
to  be  done  in  politics  in  the  town,  the  engine  com- 
pany, —  all  such  things  give  us  association  with  good 
fellows  who  cannot  play  the  piano,  who  cannot  talk 
French.  But  it  is  enough  for  me,  and  it  is  enough  for 
these  young  men  whom  you  see  here. 

"  When  I  read  in  the  magazines  and  in  the  news- 
papers that  the  higher  education  of  woman  is  the 
necessity  of  our  time,  I  sometimes  wish  that  some 
sensible  man  or  woman  would  write  a  paper  to  show 
that  the  higher  education  of  woman  is  doing  a  great 
deal  to  separate  the  sexes  from  reasonable  and  good- 
natured  intercourse  with  each  other.  That  paper  might 
do  some  good  at  your  Vassars  and  your  Wellesleys." 
As  he  spoke,  Drummond  beckoned  to  another  mau 
named  McVicar,  who  was  dispensing  the  ice-cream, 
and  said  to  him,  "Leave  your  ice-cream  to  Ben  and 
John,  McVicar,  and  hear  what  treason  I  am  talking 
to  Mr.  Tangier." 

McVicar  fell  into  the  same  strain  with  Drummond, 
and  as  the  three  men  pretended  to  be  eating  their 
ice-cream,  Mr.  Tangier,  finding  he  had  their  confi- 
dence entirely,  told  them  what  had  passed  in  one  or 
another  of  the  caucuses  of  which  the  reader  has  some 
account.  McVicar  laughed  at  the  difficulties  which 
the  ladies  had  brought  forward,  approved  of  the 
doctor's  rather  straightforward  views,  and  said :  "  I  j 

8 


114  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

do  not  think  we  need  discuss  the  theory  of  the  matter 
much,  Mr.  Tangier.  That  girl  was  right,  whoever 
she  was,  —  you  did  not  name  her,  —  who  spoke  of  the 
street-car  as  the  centre  of  social  order.  Now,  we  do 
not  need  a  street-car  here,  but  a  great  deal  could  be 
done  by  a  plank  sidewalk.  T  should  really  think, 
myself,  that  far  better  than  a  cartload  of  resolutions 
on  the  subject  of  reorganization  of  society  would  be  a 
plank  sidewalk  laid  from  —  well,  say  from  the  water- 
tank  above  Clements's  —  it  is  not  more  than  a  mile 
and  a  half  —  as  far  as  the  group  of  houses  at  the 
crossings.  Begin  at  the  beginning  is  a  good  rule, 
Mr.  Tangier.  If  we  had  a  walk,  over  which  people 
could  go  in  such  weather  as  is  here  nine  days  out  of 
ten,  people  would  seek  each  other  a  great  deal  more 
than  they  do,  and  would  not  live  in  the  isolation  of 
their  houses." 

So  the  Templars  came  out  on  precisely  the  same 
socialistic  doctrines  with  the  people  who  discussed 
social  order  at  Mrs.  Dunster's. 


MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS.  115 


CHAPTER  XV. 

WHEN  Mr.  Tangier  came  down  to  breakfast  the 
next  morning,  he  knew  that  the  plans  which 
had  been  blocked  out  at  the  meeting  of  the  day  before, 
would  have  to  pass  the  criticism  of  the  little  caucus 
which  met  three  times  a  day  at  Mrs.  Fairbanks's  table. 
He  was  in  no  doubt,  of  course,  of  the  views  which 
the  two  leaders  of  conversation  would  take.  Good 
Mrs.  Hasey  would  approve  of  everything  through  and 
through,  and  from  her  store  of  epigram  and  memory 
would  have  valuable  illustrations  which  would  show 
the  certainty  of  success,  even  in  the  smallest  detail 
that  was  proposed.  On  the  other  hand,  Mrs.  Floxam 
would  disapprove,  first  of  the  plan,  and  then  of  every 
incident  which  had  any  connection  with  it.  Her  rela- 
tions with  General  Cervantes  were  such  that  she  would 
know  that  failure  brooded  over  the  enterprise  from  the 
very  beginning. 

Still,  Mr.  Tangier,  who  was,  like  all  the  rest  of  us, 
susceptible  to  the  fears  of  his  kind,  entered  on  the 
discussion  with  a  certain  feeling  of  curiosity.  A  long 
experience,  indeed,  never  made  him  able  to  foresee 
the  particular  lines  of  opposition  which  one  of  these 
ladies  would  take,  or  of  assent  which  would  be  repre- 
sented by  the  other. 

"Well,  Mr.  Tangier,  you  stayed  so  late  on  the  hill 
that  we  had  no  chance  to  hear  from  you  about  the 


116  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

meeting  after  I  came  away.  Of  course  the  girls  have 
told  us  what  they  did,  and  they  seem  to  have  had 
hard  enough  work.  That  was  to  be  expected.  But  I 
told  them  that  I  should  not  feel  that  I  understood 
anything  about  it  till  I  had  an  official  report  from 
you." 

This  was  the  welcome  which  was  given  him  by  Mrs. 
Hasey,  as  he  took  his  seat  by  her  at  the  table.  Before 
he  could  reply,  Mrs.  Floxam  said :  "I  felt  really  sorry 
when  I  found  you  had  taken  so  much  pains  about  it, 
Mr.  Tangier.  If  I  had  known  what  it  was  that  you 
were  planning  and  talking  about,  I  could  have  told 
you  that  my  husband  knew  all  about  such  things,  and 
that  he  used  to  say  that  it  was  utterly  in  vain  to  start 
anything  of  the  kind.  Indeed,  when  we  were  in  Mex- 
ico, where  for  some  time  we  had  an  opportunity  of 
knowing  how  they  manage  things  in  their  way,  he 
often  talked  about  it.  I  remember  at  the  palace,  one 
day,  something  was  said  about  the  reason  why  Span- 
iards never  would  live  in  the  country.  My  husband 
himself  was  a  country  boy,  and  he  had  to  move  from 
the  country  to  New  York  just  as  soon  as  his  father 
would  let  him  go.  He  said  so  to  General  Cervantes, 
and  General  Cervantes  said  he  was  quite  right ;  that  it 
was  wholly  impossible  in  the  surroundings  of  agricul- 
tural life  for  a  man  to  cultivate  any  of  the  powers 
which  are  necessary  for  business ;  and  that  he  always 
chose  upon  his  own  staff  men  who  had  had  a  large 
experience  with  other  men  and  women,  such  as  you 
could  not  have  if  you  were  taking  care  of  sheep  or 
were  out  on  a  ranch  after  cattle." 

Mr.  Tangier  had  never  heard  Mrs.  Floxam  make 
quite  so  long  a  speech,  and  he  was  amazed  to  find 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  117 

that  the  good  fellows  he  had  been  talking  with  the 
afternoon  before  were  set  down  as  a  sort  of  rancheros, 
merely  because  they  had  not  had  the  advantage  which 
Mrs.  Floxarn  had  had,  of  living  in  a  fourth-rate  New 
York  hotel.  He  was  not  much  in  the  habit  of  an- 
swering Mrs.  Floxam.  After  a  day's  experience,  he 
had  found  that  little  came  of  that.  He  had  also 
learned  that  it  was  quite  as  well  to  leave  her  to  the 
free  graces  of  Mrs.  Hasey ;  and  he  did  so  now. 

Mrs.  Hasey,  however,  was  quite  too  good-natured 
ever  to  pretend  to  answer  anybody.  Quite  as  if 
nothing  had  been  said,  she  said :  "  You  had  a  good 
time,  they  tell  me.  If  you  had  told  me  that  there 
was  to  be  something  to  eat,  I  am  not  sure  but  I 
should  have  stayed  longer,  when,  in  fact,  I  came  home 
in  the  carry-all.  But,  really,  when  you  spoke  to  me, 
I  did  feel  that  I  was  nothing  but  an  old  woman  and 
should  be  of  no  use  to  anybody.  So  there  is  to  be  a 
plank  sidewalk,  they  tell  me." 

Mr.  Tangier  said  that  the  plank  sidewalk  seemed  to 
meet  general  approval  when  it  was  proposed ;  that  he 
had  never  seen  the  need  of  it  himself,  and  that  there 
had  been  very  little  rain  since  he  had  been  in  Tenter- 
don.  He  said  that  the  general  verdict  of  the  young 
people,  and  of  the  older  people,  seemed  to  be  that 
there  was  disposition  enough  for  meeting  together  for 
social  purposes,  if  only  they  could  come  and  go. 

"  If  there  is  any  way  of  wasting  money  more  absurd 
than  another,  it  is  the  trying  to  make  any  sort  of  road 
out  of  wood."  This  was  Mrs.  Floxam's  interpolation 
at  this  time.  "Do  you  not  know  that  the  great  fire  in 
Chicago  was  all  due  to  the  fact  that  they  had  paved 
the  streets  with  wood  and  covered  them  with  asphalt? 


118  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

The  moment  that  wretched  cow  kicked  over  the  kero- 
sene lamp,  it  ran  out  upon  the  asphalt,  and  that  street 
was  in  a  blaze,  and  all  the  other  streets  were  in  a  blaze, 
merely  because  they  had  paved  them  with  wood.  I 
thought  everybody  knew  that,  Mr.  Tangier." 

This  was  quite  a  direct  challenge,  and  Mr.  Tangier 
was  about  to  take  it  up,  when  a  lady  from  Chicago,  on 
the  other  side  of  the  table,  went  into  the  battle  bravely 
on  her  own  account,  and  explained  that  a  street  paved 
with  wood  would  no  more  carry  a  fire  from  one  end 
to  another  than  if  it  had  been  paved  with  iron.  Mrs. 
Floxam  was  not  in  the  least  disconcerted. 

"  All  I  can  say,"  said  she,  "  is  that  when  we  were 
living  in  the  city  of  Saltillo  some  of  those  ignorant 
Mexicans  tried  to  lay  a  walk  with  their  own  foolishly- 
hewed  boards,  and  it  did  not  answer  at  all.  I  remem- 
ber perfectly  that  General  Cervantes  was  dining  with 
my  husband,  and  he  said  that  he  had  seen  such  walks 
tried  in  many  cities  and  that  they  had  always  failed." 

After  this  the  conversation  went  on  to  other  details. 
Mrs.  Hasey  expressed  her  regret  that  she  had  come 
away  so  early,  and  confessed  again  that  if  she  had 
known  there  was  to  be  a  picnic  she  Avould  probably 
have  stayed;  but  she  said  she  knew  perfectly  well 
what  Mrs.  Fairbanks  had  arranged  for  dinner,  and 
that  she  was  not  certain  whether  there  would  be  any 
cold  lunch  at  the  old  tavern. 

"  As  to  that,"  said  Mrs.  Floxam,  "  if  there  is  any- 
thing that  it  is  imprudent  to  eat,  it  is  one  of  those 
cold  collations.  You  never  know  who  provides  them ; 
you  are  never  sure  but  what  there  is  poison  in  the  tin 
cans.  They  always  make  you  eat  ice-cream,  and  you 
do  not  know  where  the  ice-cream  comes  from.  I  have 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  119 

made  it  a  rule,-  and  my  husband  did  before  me,  never 
to  eat  anything  at  any  such  place." 

Mrs.  Hasey  said :  "  Ah,  well ;  that  is  very  well  for 
you ;  but  for  common  people  like  myself  I  find  it  a 
good  rule  to  eat  whenever  God  will  give  me  anything 
to  eat,  even  if  I  go  round  to  five  meals  in  a  day." 
Then  the  good-natured  old  lady  began  again  with 
Mr.  Tangier  and  his  plans. 

"  I  do  not  want  to  advise,  Mr.  Tangier,  you  know. 
I  never  do  give  any  advice  "  (and  here  the  old  lady 
laughed  good-naturedly) ;  "  but  I  am  a  good  deal  of 
the  kind  of  an  old  friend  of  mine  who  was  at  a  very 
grand  woman's  rights  convention." 

"  Pray,  what  was  that  ?  as  the  fox  said,"  said  Mr. 
Tangier. 

"  Why,  they  had  a  grand  meeting  in  some  very  high- 
strung  circle,  to  know  what  was  the  matter  with  the 
health  of  the  girls.  It  was  generally  agreed  that  the 
girls  studied  too  much  and  exercised  too  little.  Then 
one  old  lady  said  it  would  be  better  if  they  swept  more, 
and  told  great  stories  about  the  value  of  sweeping  in 
opening  the  chest." 

"I  suppose,"  said  May  Eemington,  "that  she  said 
that  the  breathing  in  of  the  dust  was  very  good  for 
the  lungs;  didn't  she?" 

"  I  dare  say  she  did.  There  is  no  end  of  the  non- 
sense that  old  women  will  speak  on  such  occasions, 
or  young  women  either,  for  that  matter.  But  after 
the  sweeping-woman  had  done,  another  woman  proph- 
esied to  show  that  they  had  better  wash  clothes  for 
exercise." 

"  Oh,  dear  ! "  said  the  same  Miss  Eemington.  "  I 
thought  the  divine  law  was  that  we  were  to  wash  on 
Monday,  but  on  no  other  day  in  the  week.  Is  there  a 


120  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

new  gospel  by  which  we  are  to  have  six  washing-days, 
or  possibly  even  seven  ?  " 

"  You  must  go  to  the  next  woman's  rights  conven- 
tion, my  dear,  and  ask  your  own  questions.  Don't 
ask  me.  I  prophesy,  as  you  know,  on  my  own  ac- 
count. After  the  washerwoman  had  done,  there  was 
a  moment's  pause,  and  my  old  friend  Miss  Katherine 
Flint,  who  had  never  spoken  in  meeting  before,  and 
I  think  never  has  since,  rose  in  the  back  seats  and 
said,  '  Why  don't  you  let  them  dance  ?  '  And  with 
that  there  came  a  solemn  stillness  over  the  great 
assembly." 

Mr.  Tangier  was  not  displeased  with  the  story. 
He  said  however,  that  if  the  tavern  was  ever  once 
whitewashed  and  the  windows  put  into  it,  he  would, 
for  his  part,  be  very  silent  as  to  the  uses  which  were 
made  of  the  old  hall.  That  must  be  on  the  con- 
science of  the  people  who  used  it  from  day  to  day. 
He  was  simply  going  to  try  to  provide  the  place  of 
union,  and  in  that  place  they  must  work  out  their  own 
salvation. 

"  That  will  never  do,"  said  Mrs.  Floxam.  "  If  you 
let  people  undertake  to  carry  on  their  own  plans,  they 
will  bring  very  low  people  in,  indeed,  and  these  very 
low  people  will  decide.  We  had  a  good  deal  of  ex- 
perience of  that  when  I  lived  in  Mexico ;  I  recollect 
that  —  " 

And  here  May  Remington  fairly  cut  her  off,  and 
would  not  let  the  Mexican  contingent  be  brought  into 
the  conversation. 

"I  am  glad  you  say  that,  Mr.  Tangier.  I  had  a 
little  of  Mrs.  Floxam's  fear  that  we  were  all  to  be 
tied  up  and  worked  by  a  charter  and  under  a  con- 
stitution. Now,  I  hate  constitutions ;  and  if  I  were 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  121 

to  tell  you  the  truth,  I  should  tell  you  that  women 
do  not  work  very  well  under  constitutions.  Constitu- 
tions are  masculine  in  their  make-up,  and  girls  and 
women  have  very  much  of  a  disposition  to  do  as  they 
choose  on  each  particular  occasion,  without  consult- 
ing the  fathers,  or,  indeed,  taking  anybody's  advice 
about  it. 

"  I  am  rather  apt  to  think  that  if  a  lot  of  girls  get 
together  in  your  hall  and  want  to  dance,  there  will  be 
some  way  found  to  dance,  if  only  there  is  any  music ; 
and  as  for  that,  I  am  not  sure  but  I  will  contrib- 
ute three  Jew's-harps  for  that  precise  purpose  to  be 
hung  up  on  the  wall."  Mr.  Tangier  said  that  the 
matter  of  music  had  occupied  his  own  mind.  He 
hated  melodeons  so  that  he  had  been  tempted,  against 
his  own  principle,  to  put  in  letters  of  gold  over  the 
door,  "No  melodeous  admitted  here."  But  he  sup- 
posed that  he  must  not  interfere  so  far  as  that. 

The  girls  assented  to  this  notion  of  his,  and  said 
that  it  was  bad  enough  that  there  should  be  a  melo- 
deon  in  the  vestry  of  the  church.  They  said  they 
would  consult  with  each  other  about  it.  They  seemed 
to  think  that  there  was  an  old  piano  in  the  Gingerly 
House,  which  was  locked  up  by  the  Gingerlys,  who 
were  all  in  Italy.  They  seemed  to  think  that  a  letter, 
if  it  could  be  properly  addressed,  either  to  Genoa,  or 
Mentone,  or  wherever  the  place  was,  might  obtain 
permission  for  the  borrowing  of  this  piano.  "Only 
then,  Mr.  Tangier,  the  summer  will  all  be  gone  by  be- 
fore the  letter  will  come."  Mr.  Tangier  said  he  did 
not  think  the  piano  the  most  difficult  part  of  the  mat- 
ter. "  But  we  will  advance  step  by  step,"  said  he,  "  and 
accordingly  see  what  we  can  do." 


122  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER  XYI. 

STEP  by  step  they  did  advance.  The  great  social 
movement,  as  they  called  it  in  joke,  had  its  ups 
and  its  downs.  Sometimes  there  was  a  very  bad 
hitch,  of  the  nature  of  which  Mrs.  Floxam  was  always 
eager  to  prophesy  whenever  it  came  up  in  the  con- 
versation. Sometimes  there  was  an  immense  tide- 
wave  in  its  favor,  and  by  the  end  of  the  day  things 
were  advanced  as  nobody  had  ventured  to  dream  they 
would  advance.  The  providential  carpenter  took  a 
cordial  interest  in  the  whole  plan,  which  was  neces- 
sary. For  if  such  a  man  as  that  had  chosen  to  say  it 
was  a  "  bad  job,"  that  it  was  all  nonsense,  and  that  it 
was  a  mere  whim  on  Mr.  Tangier's  part,  even  though 
it  would  have  put  money  in  his  pocket  to  attend  to 
the  thing,  he  would  have  delayed  and  waited  and 
taken  care  that  the  sashes  did  not  arrive  from  town 
in  time,  and  would  have  had  it  in  his  power  to 
throw  the  whole  thing  over,  perhaps  to  another  sum- 
mer, perhaps  to  another  year.  But  in  point  of  fact 
Meakin  took  an  interest,  first  in  Mr.  Tangier  and 
then  in  his  plan,  from  the  very  beginning.  So  to 
speak,  he  lent  himself  to  the  social  revolution.  And 
instead  of  sending  an  incompetent  journeyman  to  see 
to  it,  he  came  himself,  and  made  excellent  sugges- 
tions. Mr.  Tangier  so  wished  that  he  could  have 
Scott  Meakiu  in  town  with  him,  to  take  oversight  of 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  123 

the  houses  of  his  clients,  which  it  was  his  business  to 
keep  decent  and  in  repair.  In  short,  Scott  Meakin 
was  that  sort  of  intelligent  supervisor  of  a  neighbor- 
hood, who  exercises  the  same  general  detail  over  its 
homes  as  a  good  old  country  doctor  exercises  over  its 
health.  Scott  Meakin  knew  what  house  ought  to 
be  lifted  up  and  have  another  story  put  under  it.  He 
also  knew  what  house  was  rotten  in  its  timber,  and 
ought  not  to  have  ten  cents  spent  upon  it  for  repairs. 
Scott  Meakin  detested  what  he  called  a  "bad  job." 
And  you  might  send  to  him  as  often  as  you  chose  to 
carry  out  some  plan  of  your  own  which  did  not  come 
in  with  his  general  idea  of  the  fitness  of  things,  and 
Scott  Meakin  would  always  be  engaged  somewhere 
else.  On  the  other  hand,  if  what  you  proposed  to 
him  was  something  he  had  planned  himself,  as  he 
had  been  passing  by  some  day,  Scott  Meakin  would 
gladly  come  to  the  rescue.  Before  you  were  well 
awake  the  next  morning,  he  and  a  dozen  of  his  men 
would  be  on  hand,  and  your  innovation  in  your  own 
house  Avould  have  been  carried  out  better  than  you 
had  planned  it  yourself,  simply  because  he  considered 
it  a  good  job  and  a  thing  which  ought  to  be  done. 

In  such  hands,  the  old  stage-house  began  to  as- 
sume quite  another  aspect  in  a  very  few  days.  As 
has  been  said,  it  was  a  little  off  the  high-road  proper, 
but  every  loafer  in  the  town  made  it  his  business  to 
go  round  and  see  how  the  improvements  went  on. 
Before  a  fortnight  was  well  over,  every  individual  in 
the  town  thought  he  had  suggested  the  greater  part 
of  these  improvements  himself,  and  began  to  think 
that  the  social  revolution  was  a  matter  which  he  had 
himself  suggested  the  day  he  was  walking  here  or 


124  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

there,  as  the  case  might  be;  and  thus  without  any- 
body's effort  there  was  enlisted  a  general  sympathy 
in  the  plan. 

As  for  the  plank  sidewalk,  Mrs.  Floxam's  views 
were  in  an  indirect  way  sustained,  although  she  never 
knew  this.  It  was  a  discovery  of  the  little  school- 
mistress, which  she  mentioned  rather  timidly  to  Mrs. 
Dunster  one  day,  out  of  which  came  the  particular 
enterprise  by  which  the  sidewalk  was  undertaken  and 
in  the  end  completed.  The  little  schoolmistress  had 
been  picked  up  one  day  by  Scott  Meakin,  as  he  was 
driving  an  empty  lumber-wagon  back  from  the  old 
tavern  to  his  home  ;  and  she  had  ventured  to  tell  him 
what  all  the  women  said,  which  was,  that  the  great 
difficulty  of  Tenterdon  was  the  difficulty  in  going  from 
place  to  place  in  the  winter  rains,  and  in  the  spring 
when  the  frost  was  coming  out  of  the  ground.  In 
short,  the  sidewalk  question  occupied  her  mind  quite 
as  much  as  it  did  that  of  Miss  May  Eeniington.  She 
asked  Scott  why  it  was  not  the  business  of  the  town 
to  provide  for  the  people  to  walk  quite  as  much  as  it 
was  for  them  to  ride,  and  said  that  she  never  had 
any  horse  and  never  expected  to  have  any  horse.  It 
seemed  to  her  rather  mean  that  all  the  money  which 
the  town  spent  should  be  spent  for  the  benefit  of 
people  like  Scott  Meakin,  who  drove  a  span,  and  that 
she  and  her  school-children  should  have  to  take  their 
chances  in  the  middle  of  the  road. 

Scott  Meakin  told  her  that  he  could  recollect  a  town 
meeting  in  which  there  had  been  a  proposition  made 
by  somebody  that  there  should  be  a  sidewalk  laid,  and 
he  told  her  also  that  it  met  with  the  objection  which 
all  such  plans  meet.  That  is  to  say,  the  people  from  a 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  125 

distance  who  were  not  going  to  walk  on  the  sidewalk 
did  not  choose  to  be  taxed  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
were.  "  And  that  is  just  what  you  would  find  now," 
said  he,  "if  you  tried  to  do  anything  about  this  in 
town  meeting.  Those  folks  over  in  the  north  district 
have  no  idea  of  putting  down  a  sidewalk  for  you  and 
Mrs.  Fairbanks  and  the  doctor  here.  They  would 
make  no  end  of  fun  about  it.  They  would  propose 
sidewalks  in  every  precinct  of  the  town,  and  after 
ten  or  fifteen  minutes'  fooling,  the  whole  thing  would 
be  thrown  out." 

The  girl  asked  how  much  such  a  sidewalk  would 
cost  as  had  been  talked  about,  more  than  a  mile  long, 
—  nearly  a  mile  and  a  half,  indeed. 

Meakin  made  a  calculation  unnecessarily  accurate. 
But  she  was  used  to  such  sums  in  the  Emerson's 
Arithmetic,  and  followed  him,  not  without  interest, 
taking,  indeed,  some  ideas  for  her  next  blackboard 
lesson  with  the  older  boys  at  school.  When  he  came  out 
on  his  results,  however,  for  a  sidewalk  three  feet  wide, 
made  of  plank  an  inch  and  a  half  thick  and  supported 
thus  and  so,  she  did  not  wonder  that  no  conceivable 
town  meeting  in  Tenterdon  could  be  made  to  vote  such 
a  convenience  for  her  and  the  other  people  of  her  own 
sex  who  had  no  votes  to  bring.  She  did  not  say 
to  Scott  Meakin  that  she  thought  he  was  proposing 
accommodations  much  better  than  were  necessary. 
But,  like  the  sensible  girl  she  was,  she  recollected  all 
his  figures,  and  when  he  left  her  at  the  school-house, 
she  jotted  them  down  on  a  bit  of  paper  for  fear  any- 
body should  tell  her  afterwards,  as  men  will  tell  wo- 
men, that  she  knew  nothing  about  the  subject. 

When  recess  came  the  next  day,  Miss  G-urtry  took 


126  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

James  Hodgdon  with  her,  and  they  walked  back  into 
the  pasture,  and  across  by  Wilfred's  ten-acre  lot,  till 
they  came  to  a  little  steam  saw-mill,  which  had  been 
established  on  the  edge  of  the  woods  by  a  Maine  man 
only  two  years  before.  Miss  Gurtry  told  the  boy,  as 
they  went,  that  she  was  going  to  talk  with  the  Maine 
man  about  the  sidewalk.  She  saw  a  little  smoke  curl 
above  the  woods  as  they  approached,  so  that  she  was 
well  pleased  to  find  that  he  was  on  duty  in  his  rather 
lonely  place,  and  he  was  equally  pleased  to  find  that 
he  had  a  visitor,  even  though  that  visitor  brought  him 
no  promise  of  an  order. 

His  speculation  was  sufficiently  modest.  It  was 
long,  long  ago,  siuce  there  had  been  a  saw-mill  within 
ten  miles.  In  the  mean  while  there  had  grown  up 
some  wretched  second  growth,  which  was  really  not 
worth  hauling  to  any  mill  that  anybody  knew  anything 
about.  The  arrival  of  this  enterprising  fellow,  there- 
fore, with  this  little  establishment,  had  enabled  every- 
body who  wanted  a  little  lumber  and  was  not  very 
particular  as  to  the  quality,  to  haul  his  own  logs  in 
winter  and  carry  back  just  what  he  wanted  for  his 
own  purposes.  The  Maine  man  lived  by  himself,  with 
a  boy  he  had  picked  up  from  some  poor-house ;  and  in 
a  pioneer  fashion,  although  he  were  close  to  crowded 
towns,  he  would  make  for  a  year  or  two  a  decent  living, 
when  he  would  carry  his  machinery  to  some  other 
such  forgotten  forest,  and  glean  what  was  left  again. 
Miss  Gurtry  had  stumbled  on  him  in  one  of  her  walks 
after  wild-flowers,  so  that  they  did  not  have  to  begin 
on  the  formalities  of  personal  acquaintance.  "  We 
have  come  over  to  talk  about  stuff  for  a  sidewalk,  Mr. 
Rostock,"  said  she.  "  A  sidewalk ! "  said  he,  in  sur- 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  127 

prise ;  "  I  do  not  deal  in  flagging-stones."  This  was 
his  little  joke.  "No,"  she  said,  she  was  not  grand 
enough  for  flagging-stones ;  but  she  had  noticed  that 
he  was  feeding  his  fire  with  the  slabs  from  the  logs, 
and  that  made  her  think  there  was  not  a  large  market 
for  them.  "  No,  Miss  Gurtry,"  said  he ;  "  no  market 
at  all.  When  I  went  to  school,  the  benches  was  made 
of  slabs  with  the  smooth  side  up;  but  you  school- 
marms  are  quite  too  grand  for  us  now.  That  was  the 
only  market  we  ever  had  for  our  slabs,  and  now  we 
have  to  put  them  into  the  fire."  So  the  girl  told  him, 
very  frankly,  that  if  he  would  put  the  lowest  possible 
figure  on  the  slabs  which  he  had,  piled  up  everywhere 
around  him,  she  thought  it  not  impossible  that  she 
might  find  him  a  customer.  He  promised  that  he 
and  the  poor-house  boy  should  count  them  before 
night,  and  bring  over  to  her  some  estimate  of  the 
number  of  feet  he  could  provide ;  and  then  said,  very 
frankly,  that  he  did  not  want  to  be  hard  on  anybody, 
and  should  like  to  oblige  the  neighborhood,  if  he  could, 
so  that  he  would  fix  his  price  for  the  slabs  at  the  very 
lowest.  So,  in  fact,  the  good  fellow  did;  and  when 
he  came  over,  after  school  was  done  in  the  afternoon, 
with  his  estimates,  Miss  Gurtry  was  not  dissatisfied 
with  the  results  of  her  morning  expedition. 


128  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

saw-mill  man  was  as  good  as  his  word,  and 
JL  better.  Had  Miss  Gurtry  known  it,  her  visit 
to  him  and  his  poor-house  boy,  when  she  went  with 
her  Squire,  was  a  step  not  unimportant  in  what  May 
Remington  called  "the  social  revolution."  The  lum- 
ber-man was  used  to  life  in  the  woods  in  Maine.  But 
life  in  the  woods  there  meant  a  dozen  good  fellows  at 
your  side,  a  game  of  cards  at  night,  no  end  of  fun  as 
you  cooked  the  breakfast  in  the  morning.  There  was 
no  lack  of  society  in  the  Maine  forest.  Now,  life  here 
in  the  parish  woodlands  of  Tenterdon;  by  the  side  of 
Casey  brook,  with  nobody  but  the  poor-house  boy,  who 
was  as  stupid  as  he  was  good-natured,  was  very  lonely, 
though  it  was  not  three  miles  from  Tenterdon  steeple. 
The  saw-mill  man  would  not  confess  it  to  himself,  but 
he  was  sadly  bored ;  and  the  visit  from  Miss  Gurtry 
and  her  companion  was  acceptable  from  points  of 
view  much  .more  elevated  than  the  business  contract 
he  made  with  her.  He  was  now  taken  in  as  a  partner 
in  the  commonwealth.  He  had  some  one  to  talk  to, 
to  whom  he  talked  his  best.  And  when  the  school- 
boy who  came  with  her  went  up  with  the  poor-house 
boy  to  look  at  a  certain  woodchuck's  hole,  not  far 
away,  he  watched  this  companionship  with  real 
satisfaction. 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  129 

He  appeared  at  the  school-house  that  evening,  ac- 
cording to  his  promise,  and  he  was  now  a  different 
man  externally.  An  old  chest  —  "  chist "  in  the  ver- 
nacular —  had  been  hauled  out  and  had  given  up  its 
buried  contents.  He  was  arrayed  in  them,  —  arrayed, 
that  is,  in  "  store-clothes "  made  by  a  ready-made 
clothier  some  ten  years  before,  sent  then  to  Vienna 
where  they  had  not  met  'a  market,  returned  to 
America,  and  shipped  as  damaged  to  Ellsworth. 
Here  the  saw-mill  man  had  bought  them,  and  in 
them  he  had  appeared  on  occasions  of  ceremony  ever 
since. 

He  was,  as  has  been  said,  much  better  than  his 
word.  He  had  in  his  hand  what  he  called  a  "kind 
o'  cradle,"  which  he  had  hewn  out  with  his  ax,  and 
which,  with  some  pride,  he  explained  to  Miss  Gurtry. 
He  said  that  it  would  be  easy  to  lay  two  slabs  parallel 
with  each  other,  —  as  it  were  a  sort  of  foot  railroad, 
and  so  he  called  it,  —  to  support  them  in  beds  made  in 
cross-ties,  which  he  called  "cradles,"  and  so  give  to 
people  walking  abreast  the  privilege  of  dry  foothold, 
though  all  the  space  between  them  was  wet. 

"En  I  thort,  Miss  Gurtry,  that  ef  your  boys  here 
keered  much  abyout  the  walk,  they  might  chop  out 
such  cradles  as  this  b'tween  schools.  Seems  to  me, 
you  know,  that  ef  the  boys  make  the  walk,  they  will 
oilers  keep  it  right.  En  ef  they  ain't  interested  in 
it,  why,  it  won't  last  long,  you  know." 

He  laid  down  an  important  law  as  he  said  this,  and 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  do  so  in  presence  and  in  hear- 
ing of  the  boys,  who  were  themselves  explaining  to 
each  other  the  plan  of  the  cradle.  As  the  reader  has 
been  told,  these  were  the  little  boys  of  the  neighbor- 


130  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

hood,  the  bigger  boys  despising  a  summer  school,  as 
they  might  despise  a  pinafore  or  petticoats.  But  the 
little  boys  also  were  trusted  with  axes  or  hatchets, 
and  they  knew  very  well  that,  trusted  or  not,  they 
would  be  able  to  bring  them  to  school  for  the  service 
proposed.  They  also  knew  that  the  big  boys  would 
gladly  lend  a  hand  in  such  an  enterprise  as  this,  how- 
ever doubtful  they  might  be  of  combinations  for 
learning  arithmetic  or  spelling. 

And  the  result  of  Mr.  Eostock's  visit  was  that  Miss 
Gurtry,  partly  from  her  own  scanty  stores,  and  partly 
from  various  quarter-dollars  brought  in  by  the  boys 
from  home,  was  able  to  order  six  hundred  running 
feet  of  slabs  "  ter  take  'em  as  they  might  come ;  but 
that  it  would  be  handier  if  the  mill  cut  them  into 
lengths  such  as  the  boys  could  handle."  Mr.  Rostock 
also  agreed  to  cut  a  sufficient  number  of  cross-ties 
from  the  thicker  slabs,  which  could  be  hewn  into  such 
Cradles  as  he  suggested.  All  that  Miss  Gurtry  had 
left  to  do  was  to  obtain  nails  and  spikes  enough  for 
three  hundred  feet  of  sidewalk;  and  all  that  the 
boys  had  to  do  was  to  beg,  borrow,  or  "  convey  "  the 
axes  and  hatchets  necessary  at  their  houses,  and  to 
persuade  the  bigger  boys  to  come  and  help  them  in 
the  morning  and  at  night.  Of  course  the  enterprise 
was  no  secret.  It  was  very  popular  so  soon  as  the 
plans  were  adjusted.  Fathers  were  found  who  per- 
mitted their  "  teams  "  to  haul  the  slabs  from  the  mill 
to  the  school-house.  Miss  Gurtry  had  offers  of  more 
nails  than  she  could  use ;  nay,  hardly  a  little  boy  came 
in  the  morning  who  had  not  gleaned  nails,  as  he  said, 
with  parental  consent,  from  the  family  store.  And  so 
it  happened  that,  before  the  caucus  at  Mrs.  Punster's 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  131 

knew  anything  about  it,  a  girl  who  thought  herself 
the  most  insignificant  person  in  the  town  solved  the 
central  and  crucial  question  in  the  new  organization 
of  society.  For  this  bit  of  sidewalk  was  a  concrete 
and  visible  fact.  Such  a  fact  always  affects  a  New 
England  community  more  even  than  a  deduction  of 
the  severest  logic  or  metaphysics.  If,  by  good  for- 
tune, you  can  present  both  in  such  a  community,  you 
are  omnipotent  there. 

While  Mrs.  Moxam  still  said,  on  occasion,  that  a 
sidewalk  was  useless  and  impossible,  that  country 
people  were  fools  and  could  do  nothing,  a  clean,  not 
"  impracticable,"  sidewalk  existed  on  the  main  road ; 
far  distant  from  any  house,  but  along  a  bit  of  lowland 
certain  to  be  muddy  if  there  were  mud  anywhere.  It 
was  a  visible  gospel  of  good  sense  and  neatness.  It 
did  not  go  to  the  school-house.  The  school-house  was 
on  a  narrow  side  road  which  ran  uphill  from  the 
main  road  and  was  never  muddy.  But  it  was  a  daily 
relief,  three  days  out  of  four  in  the  year,  to  all  the 
girls  of  the  school  and  to  every  woman  whose  exigen- 
cies took  her  on  foot  that  way.  Six  days  of  the  joint 
work  of  the  scholars  and  their  big  brothers  finished 
it;  and  it  was  the  admiration  of  the  neighborhood, 
and  topic  of  general  daily  congratulation  after  the 
third  of  the  six  days. 


132  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS, 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

IT  seemed  worth  while  to  go  into  this  detail  as  to 
the  most  unimportant  part  of  the  physical  enter- 
prise by  which  the  social  economies  of  Tenterdon 
were  to  be  changed,  because,  as  it  proved,  the  exam- 
ple or  challenge  set  by  the  school  district,  which  was 
the  most  insignificant  in  the  town,  compelled  the  rest 
of  the  town,  however  indifferent  it  might  be,  to  at- 
tend to  its  share  of  the  duty.  Miss  Gurtry's  sidewalk 
was  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  old  tavern, 
which  was  now  under  the  charge  of  the  carpenters 
and  other  workmen.  But  the  fact  that,  with  so  small 
a  force  as  she  had  at  command,  she  had  done  what 
various  town-meetings  had  refused  to  do,  was,  as  has 
been  said,  a  visible  fact  which  all  men  apprehended ; 
and  it  was  clear  to  all  eyes  and  to  all  hearts  that  the 
rest  of  the  town  would  be  disgraced  if  this  challenge 
were  not  at  once  taken  up.  When  there  was  talk,  on 
the  part  of  the  more  cautious  and  conservative,  of 
having  an  article  put  into  the  warrant  for  the  next 
town-meeting,  the  women,  who  were  the  most  inter- 
ested, ridiculed  any  such  delay.  The  town-meeting 
would  not  take  place  till  the  next  March.  Before 
that  time  who  should  say  how  many  people  might 
have  caught  their  death  of  cold  ?  No !  Miss  Gurtry 
had  shown  how  the  sidewalk  should  be  made,  and 
made  it  should  be,  and  made  at  once.  If  the  men 


MR.   TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  133 

had  any  improvements  to  make  on  Miss  Gurtry's 
methods,  let  them  show  what  they  would  be,  but  let 
nobody  say  that  the  "  Centre  "  could  not  have  a  side- 
walk, when  Miss  Gurtry  had  succeeded  so  well  in  her 
outlying  region. 

There  were  many  searchings  of  spirit  as  to  whose 
business  it  was  to  go  forward  in  this  affair.  But  these 
were  all  solved  by  the  prompt  declaration  of  the 
Knights  Templars  that  they  proposed  to  undertake 
this  sidewalk,  and  that  any  man  might  do  his  own 
share  about  his  own  house  if  he  chose  to.  Only  they 
wanted  to  be  notified  who  would  and  who  would  not 
help,  where  they  would  help,  and  how  they  would 
help.  It  is  the  fashion  of  New  England  that  no  one  • 
likes  to  be  dragooned  or  driven  to  his  duty.  And  the  i 
number  of  different  ways  in  which  persons  thus  chal- 
lenged by  the  Knights  Templars  showed  how  they 
could  help  without  helping  as  other  people  did,  would 
stagger  the  belief  of  the  average  reader  ;  nor  shall  he  I 
be  indulged  by  a  calendar  of  them.  Suffice  it  to  say  ' 
that  the  Knights,  or  Drummond,  who  was  their  spokes- 
man, found  that  they  had  all  the  help  that  they  knew 
how  to  handle,  all  the  tools  they  knew  how  to  handle, 
•all  the  nails  they  knew  how  to  handle,  and  it  seemed 
that  there  would  be  but  little  difficulty  in  collecting 
the  money  which  was  needed.  When  it  came  to  the 
question  of  money,  the  ladies'  society  of  the  church 
proved  to  have  in  its  treasury  a  considerable  sum,  - 
from  which  it  was  proposed  that  an  appropriation 
of  fifteen  dollars  should  be  made.  But  the  men  re- 
fused this.  They  said  that  that  money  must  be  used 
for  purposes  more  distinctly  ecclesiastical  or  sacred. 
But  some  one  intimated  that  if  it  was  considered  da- 


134  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

sirable  to  take  up  a  collection  in  church  for  this  special 
purpose,  such  a  collection  should  be  permitted.  To 
this  collection  Mr.  Burdett  gave  a  ready  assent,  and  it 
was  determined  it  should  be  taken  up  accordingly. 

As  the  little  cluster  of  visitors  met  at  Mrs.  Duns- 
ter's  house  one  evening,  when  the  stroke  of  the  adze 
and  the  sound  of  the  hammer  could  be  distinctly 
heard,  as  a  knot  of  spirited  young  fellows  were  at 
work  on  the  sidewalk,  Mr.  Tangier  said  that  there  was 
so  hearty  a  spirit  of  co-operation  in  the  matter  that  he 
could  not  but  wonder  why  it  had  not  been  done  long 
before.  How  should  it  be  that  an  improvement  which 
everybody  recognized  as  necessary  should  have  "hung 
fire,"  to  use  the  vernacular,  so  long,  when  it  was  so 
easily  done  now  that  it  was  proposed  ? 

"  I  do  not  know  what  the  wiseacres  will  say,"  said 
Mrs.  Dunster,  "but  if  I  understand  the  people  among 
whom  I  live  and  of  whom  I  am,  nobody  likes  to  be 
ordered  to  do  anything  in  such  a  community  as  ours." 

"That  is  true  enough,"  said  the  doctor.  "More 
than  this,  you  may  say  perfectly  safely  that  people  do 
not  like  to  work  for  a  mere  abstract  idea,  for  a  reform 
stated  on  paper ;  that  is,  the  greater  part  of  them  do 
not  like  it.  There  are  also  a  few  poor  doctrinaires  or 
theorists  who  prefer  the  paper  theory  to  the  concrete 
fact.  But  take  the  Yankee  by  and  large,  and  he  wants 
to  see  the  thing  that  he  is  to  do.  He  is  much  more 
certain  to  do  it  if  it  has  been  tried  in  another  place, 
particularly  if  it  has  been  tried  in  another  place  in 
New  England;  and  then,  if  he  has  seen  it  with  his 
own  eyes,  or  if  his  father  has  seen  it,  or  his  brother 
has  seen  it,  he  is  determined  that  he  will  have  it  him- 
self. But  the  parable,  and  better  than  the  parable,  the 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  135 

concrete  experiment,  is  a  great  help.  You  were  more 
helped  by  Miss  Gurtry  and  her  lumberman  than  you 
know." 

"  I  wish,"  said  Miss  May,  "  that  any  of  the  rest  of 
you  in  all  your  grand  social  economies  and  politics 
had  any  eyes  for  the  romance  of  this  situation." 

"  Komance  ?  "  said  Mr.  Tangier.  "  Pray  tell  me 
what  is  the  romance  in  two-inch  nails,  or  what  is  the 
romance  in  the  swinging  of  an  adze  ?  " 

"  That  depends  on  who  drives  the  nails,  and  that 
depends  on  who  swings  the  adze,"  said  Miss  May. 
"But  if  any  of  you  pundits  had  half  an  eye,  you 
would  see  that  Mr.  Drurnrnond,  as  you  call  him,  the 
Knight  Templar  man,  is  very,  very,  very  fond  of  your 
pretty  Miss  Gurtry.  And  if  she  were  not  a  woman, 
and  it  were  not  disloyal  to  her,  I  would  add  that  the 
pretty  Miss  Gurtry  likes  Mr.  Drummond  just  the  least 
bit  in  the  world,  although  neither  of  them  dare  say 
so  to  the  other." 

"  I  own  myself  a  fool,"  said  Mr.  Tangier.  "  I  own 
that  studies  of  social  economy  have  blinded  my  eyes 
to  what  was  before  them.  Now  that  you  tell  nie  that 
this  is  so,  I  am  willing  to  take  it  on  your  authority. 
But  as  you  are  so  learned,  would  you  go  a  little  far- 
ther, and  would  you  tell  me  why  in  the  world,  if  Mr. 
Drummond  likes  Miss  Gurtry,  he  does  not  tell  her  so, 
and  why  he  should  not  tell  her  so  ?  " 

Miss  May  laughed  very  heartily.  "  I  should  think 
you  had  never  seen  a  novel  in  your  life,  Mr.  Tangier. 
And  sometimes  I  think  that  you  are  all  so  busy  with 
your  beginning  of  the  term  and  the  end  of  the  term, 
with  the  coining  in  of  the  court  and  the  drawing  up  of 
lists  of  the  jury,  that  you  cannot  be  made  to  take  the 


136  MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS. 

least  interest  in  a  good  novel,  whether  it  is  displayed 
under  your  eye  or  whether  Mr.  Ho  wells  writes  it. 
For  my  part,  I  am  not  very  sorry  that  we  women  are 
shut  off  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  realities  of  life,  and 
that  you  men  have  to  pick  up  the  cobble-stones  and 
crack  them,  if  you  cannot  see  what,  as  I  say,  any  blind 
calender  with  half  an  eye  could  see." 

"I  have  acknowledged  my  imbecility,"  said  Mr. 
Tangier,  "  and  I  acknowledge  it  again ;  but  I  wish  you 
would  tell  me  why  in  the  world,  if  Mr.  Drummond 
likes  Miss  Gurtry,  he  should  not  tell  her  so  ?  Is  it 
foreordained  by  any  Capulet  or  any  Montague,  or 
any  other  old  man  in  silks  and  satins,  that  the  house 
of  Drummond  shall  not  tell  the  house  of  Gurtry  how 
fond  we  are  ?  " 

Miss  May  still  laughed  very  heartily.  "  That  is  not 
foreordained  at  all.  There  is  no  house  of  Drummond, 
and  there  is  no  house  of  Gurtry.  On  the  other  hand, 
Mr.  Drummond  is  a  stranger  in  the  town,  who  came 
to  us,  well,  from  somewhere  up  in  Vermont,  I  sup- 
pose ;  that  is  the  reason  he  is  so  tall,  and  his  hair  is  so 
black,  and  his  face  is  so  brown,  and,  if  you  please,  he 
is  so  handsome.  It  is  a  little  bit  of  the  Norman  blood 
that  you  Vermonters  have ;  and  your  pretty  Miss  Gur- 
try, as  you  call  her  —  " 

"It  was  not  I  who  called  her  pretty,"  said  Mr. 
Tangier.  "It  was  Miss  May  Remington  who  called 
her  pretty." 

"Very  good,"  said  Miss  May,  still  laughing;  "my 
pretty  Miss  Gurtry,  if  I  called  her  so.  She  comes  to 
us,  well,  I  think  from  Ohio.  I  do  not  know  why  the 
Western  girls  come  East.  I  believe  it  is  because 
there  is  not  "  culchaw  "  enough  at  the  West  to  go 


MR.   TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  137 

around.  Anyway,  she  comes  from  Ohio  and  she  keeps 
this  school,  and  there  is  not  another  Gurtry  in  the 
county ;  and,  so  far  as  I  know,  there  is  not  another 
Drummond  in  the  county.  There  is  no  Capulet  and 
no  Montague." 


138  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

«  x  -T  THAT  I  think,"  said  Mr.  Tangier,  "  is  that  we 

VV  ought  to  go  on  and  see  how  the  carpenters 
are  going  on." 

"  We  all  know,"  said  Miss  May. 

"We  know,  in  a  fashion.  But  we  really  know 
nothing  till  we  have  seen  with  our  eyes  and  heard 
with  our  ears.  It  will  be  a  pity  every  time  you  dance 
in  a  German  in  the  new  hall  if  your  eye  rests  on  a 
cornice  you  dislike,  and  you  have  to  say,  'I  could 
have  had  that  all  right,  but  that  I  was  lazy.' " 

"  Yes,"  said  Miss  May ;  "  and  I  see  deeply  into  the 
mind  of  the  counsellor  who  proposes  this.  It  would 
also  be  a  pity  if  Mr.  Drummond  and  Miss  Gurtry  did 
not  have  an  opportunity  to  meet  each  other.  Was  that 
what  you  had  on  your  mind,  Mr.  Senior  Counsel  ?  " 

Mr.  Tangier  laughed,  but  would  confess  nothing. 
He  insisted,  all  the  same,  that  all  the  conspirators, 
as  he  always  called  the  heads  of  the  social  regenera- 
tion, should  meet  at  the  old  stage-house  the  next  day. 
He  asked  Mrs.  Dunster  to  lend  her  carry-all  for  the 
more  distant  members ;  but  he  said  he  would  bring 
Drummond  and  the  other  men,  without  horse-power. 
It  was  known  that  Mrs.  Fairbanks  would  send  them 
over  something  for  a  picnic  tea,  and  it  was  thought 
that  the  new  cooking-stove  could  be  put  in  order  in 
time  to  heat  some  water.  "It  will  be,  therefore," 


MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS.  139 

cried  May  Keinington,  "the  beginning  of  the  social 
regeneration.  Social  regeneration  in  the  midst  of 
shavings.  Mr.  Tangier,  you  are  more  right  than  I 
supposed." 

Mr.  Tangier  asked  her  to  come  down  from  her 
station  so  far  as  to  write  a  note  for  him  to  Drummond, 
whose  daily  work  was  at  the  Crossing,  and  another  to 
the  doctor.  The  doctor  would  pass  early  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  would  like  to  know  then  what  was  on  the 
cards  for  the  day. 

When  she  had  written  these  notes  he  bade  her  say 
at  the  bottom :  "  JEFFREY  TANGIER,  his  mark,"  and 
then  with  his  left  hand  he  made  a  cross  on  each  of 
them. 

"  That  is  all  very  well  for  a  joke,"  said  he.  "  But, 
Miss  May,  would  you  mind  writing  another  for  me  to 
my  partner,  Mr.  Heeren  ?  " 

"  Mind  ?  I  shall  be  most  glad  to.  You  do  not 
know  yet  what  a  pleasure  it  is  for  a  girl  fresh  from 
school  to  find  herself  of  any  use  to  anybody." 

He  replied,  as  indeed  he  had  to,  that  she  was  of 
great  use  to  him. 

"  Indeed,  Mr.  Tangier,"  said  she,  a  little  amazed,  "  I 
was  not  asking  for  a  compliment.  I  ought  to  have 
been  more  on  my  guard.  But  —  no  —  I  was  thinking 
of  a  scene  I  saw  in  a  visit  I  have  been  making  at 
Warwick.  There  was  a  cross  brute  of  a  man  there, 
who  abused  his  wife,  and  his  children,  too,  whenever 
he  happened  to  be  at  home.  Fortunately,  this  was 
not  often.  But  one  evening  when  we  had  some  mu- 
sic at  our  house,  he  chose  to  come  over.  And  what  he 
said  —  which  I  remembered  —  he  said  it  to  his  own 
pretty  wife,  too,  and  he  made  her  cry  —  was  that  she 


140  MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS. 

could  not  do  a  thing  for  which  anybody  would  pay  her 
five  dollars  a  week.  He  said  that  if  she  advertised  for 
work  in  the  '  New  York  World '  under  the  '  Wants/ 
and  told  all  she  could  do,  nobody  would  hire  her  for 
five  dollars  a  week.  She  tried  to  laugh,  but  the  tears 
came  into  her  eyes.  And  then  he  thought  he  would 
make  the  rest  of  us  cry,  so  he  said  that  the  same 
might  be  said  of  all  the  women  in  the  room.  My  nice 
Mrs.  Curwen  was  even  with  him.  She  said :  '  When 
you  have  a  woman  on  your  list,  Mr.  Fonblanque,  who 
will  do  for  my  baby  what  your  wife  has  done  for 
yours  in  the  last  fortnight,  send  her  round  to  me  and 
I  will  pay  her  twenty  dollars  a  week.' " 

"Good  for  Mrs.  Curwen,"  said  Tangier.  "Try  to 
introduce  me  to  her  the  first  time  I  go  to  Boston." 

"  Yes.  Was  n't  it  good  ?  All  the  same,  Charlotte 
and  I  went  off  to  bed,  asking  what  we  could  do  that 
would  appear  to  advantage  in  the  'Wants,'  column. 
I  do  not  mean  teaching.  Teaching  is,  after  all,  hand- 
ing along  the  same  state  of  ignorance  and  of  informa- 
tion. I  mean  work — what  I  heard  the  doctor  call 
1  subduing  the  world.' " 

"  Very  good,"  said  Tangier.  "  And  I  hope  you  and 
your  Miss  Charlotte  did  not  make  the  common  mis- 
take of  young  ladies  —  or,  for  that  matter,  old  women, 
too." 

"What  is  that?" 

"  It  is  to  speak  of  this  difficulty  as  if  it  belonged  to 
your  sex.  The  truth  is  that  it  belongs  to  everybody 
born  into  the  world.  It  is  only  lately  that  women 
have  begun  to  talk  about  it ;  that  is  all.  But,  in 
truth,  every  boy  who  leaves  college  finds  it  just  as 
hard  to  find  the  right  niche  as  every  girl  who  leaves 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  141 

Wellesley  or  Vassar.  Only,  by  misfortune,  there  are 
women's  journals  and  '  departments '  in  newspapers, 
in  which  women  can  groan  aboiit  these  things,  while 
there  is  no  journal  open  to  Brother  Smith,  who  finds 
that  the  high  school  has  taught  him  the  wrong  way  to 
calculate  interest,  or  to  Tom  Jones,  who  does  not 
know  the  difference  between  white  lead  and  barytes." 

"  You  do  me  good,  Mr.  Tangier.  I  wish  I  thought 
the  boys  one  half  as  discontented  as  I  am  sometimes. 
And  what  am  I  to  say  to  Mr.  Cross-Brute  the  first  time 
I  meet  him  ?  " 

"If  I  tell  the  truth,"  said  he,  "seriously  enough 
now,  you  call  it  a  compliment.  So  I  will  not  say  that 
you  write  a  better  hand  than  he  does,  unless  he  is  an 
exceptional  man,  and  that  you  translated  that  scrap 
I  gave  you  in  Grimm  so  that  one  might  have  thought 
that  Grimm  wrote  English.  Eeally,  you  know,  I 
suppose,  that  your  Mr.  Cross-Brute,  without  knowing 
it,  has  opened  up  the  general  question  of  the  New 
Education." 

"  I  do  not  know  what  you  mean,"  said  Mrs.  Dunster. 

"  Yes,  you  do,  only  I  put  it  badly.  In  the  Old  Ed- 
ucation, so  far  as  a  college  went,  a  man  was  taught 
to  understand  the  language  of  his  time.  To  tell  the 
truth,  he  was  not  taught  much  more.  But  when  he 
left  college,  if  he  met  a  man  of  letters,  he  could  talk 
of  literature ;  if  he  met  an  electrician,  he  could  ask  a 
question  and  understand  the  answer ;  if  he  met  Baron 
Humboldt,  he  could  learn  from  him  of  botany  and  zool- 
ogy, and  if  he  met  Metternich  or  Baron  Bunsen,  he 
could  learn  about  European  politics.  But  now  he  may 
be  thoroughly  up  on  one  of  these  things,  but  he  has 
not  so  much  as  the  elements  of  the  others.  The  New 


142  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

Education  is  on  the  lookout  for  his  bread  and  butter. 
It  says  :  '  I  will  make  you  a  statesman.  I  will  make 
you  an  electrician.  I  will  make  you  a  botanist.  I 
will  make  you  a  Latinist.  But  you  must  choose.'  I 
suppose  the  man  has  his  reward.  But  those  of  us  who 
remember  Mr.  Irving  or  Mr.  Everett,  or  the  tales  of 
Mr.  Webster  —  well  —  no  matter." 

"  I  see  what  you  mean,"  said  Mrs.  Dunster,  "  and  it 
is  rather  an  encouragement." 

"  It  reminds  me,"  said  May  Remington,  "  of  what 
dear  Dr.  Gray  said.  You  know  I  saw  him  at  Prince- 
ton. He  said  it  was  very  good  fun  to  be  seventy-five 
—  that  you  did  not  have  to  know  everything  and  to 
have  an  opinion  on  all  subjects." 

"  Precisely.  Now,  why  a  girl  of  eighteen  or  a  boy  of 
twenty  should  know  everything,  or  have  an  opinion  on 
all  subjects,  I  do  not  know.  I  used  to  think,"  Mr.  Tan- 
gier went  on,  "  but  I  express  myself  with  terror  lest 
I  be  sent  home,  — I  used  to  think  that  a  woman  wanted 
to  lend  a  hand  everywhere,  as  your  nice  magazine 
says,  Mrs.  Dunster.  I  used  to  think  that  the  mother 
Elizabeth  was  the  type  of  womanhood.  She  put  her 
hand  in  her  bag  when  anything  was  wanted  and  that 
thing  came  out." 

"I  remember  her,"  said  Miss  May,  "and  I  adore 
her.  I  see  what  you  mean.  The  gimlet  was  perhaps 
a  bad  gimlet,  but  it  was  a  gimlet.  The  smelling-salts 
were  perhaps  bad  smelling-salts,  but  they  were  smell- 
ing-salts. Yet,  well  —  Lucy  says  something  the  same 
thing  to  Harry,  I  believe,  and  Lucy  was  not  ashamed. 
But  I  —  " 

"  You  are  the  creature  of  your  age,"  said  Mrs.  Dun- 
ster, "and  cannot  live  without  eating  out  your  own 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  143 

heart.  Perhaps  a  happier  age  will  come  in  the  next 
generation  —  " 

"  When  I  shall  look  out  and  not  in,"  said  the  girl, 
triumphantly.  "  Let  us  hope  so.  But  we  do  not  get 
on  with  the  conspiracy." 

No.  They  did  not.  For  at  that  moment  an  ele- 
gant equipage  appeared,  and  a  footman  in  livery 
brought  round  the  cards  of  Mrs.  Somebody  and  Miss 
Thing-um-bob,  grand  people  who  were  staying  at  the 
Surf  House,  at  the  sands,  — the  nearest  watering-place 
proper.  Mr.  Tangier  immediately  vanished  —  no  one 
knew  where.  But  the  next  afternoon,  as  had  been 
planned,  the  conspirators  met  at  the  stage-house. 

It  had  no  new  name  as  yet  —  indeed,  one  of  the 
"  objects  of  the  meeting  "  was  to  devise  a  name.  It 
is  rather  curious  that  the  passion  of  people  of  Teu- 
tonic blood  for  "  meetings  "  is  so  strong  that  they  will 
"  get  up  "  a  "  meeting "  without  knowing  very  defi- 
nitely why  they  do  it ;  and,  after  they  have  met,  dif- 
ferent people  will  inquire  what  is  the  "object  of  the 
meeting."  Different  men  will  say  that  they  cannot 
preside,  because  they  do  not  know  the  "object  of  the 
meeting."  But,  somewhat  as  a  botanical  party  on 
new  ground  finds  a  Shortia,  or  perhaps  a  Longea, 
which  nobody  expected,  the  meeting,  having  met, 
discovers  an  object. 

In  this  case,  Miss  May  Remington  had  in  mind  one 
object  —  Mr.  Drummond,  perhaps  none,  but  that  he 
was  asked.  Mr.  Tangier  had  always  the  general  ob- 
ject of  waking  up  Tenterdon,  if  he  could — or  what 
they  called  the  reorganization  of  society. 

He  arrived  first  with  his  faithful  Squire  Nathan. 
For,  ever  since  the  fire,  Nathan  had  attached  himself. 


144  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

somewhat  like  a  boy  Friday,  to  the  fortunes  of  Mr. 
Tangier,  and  wherever  he  went,  was  not  far  away. 
Mr.  Tangier  was  amused  by  his  loyalty.  He  said  that 
it  was  a  survival  of  feudalism,  which  had  little  else 
to  boast  of  in  Tenterdon,  and  he  encouraged  it,  just 
as  he  had  brought  with  him  "  Quentin  Durward "  for 
his  reading.  On  this  occasion  he  had  called  the  boy, 
who  was  loitering  by  the  well  at  Mrs.  Fairbanks's, 
and  had  talked  with  him  all  the  way.  The  new  side- 
walk, glorious  in  a  freshness  not  yet  stained  with  rust, 
was  finished  almost  all  the  way. 

Drumrnond  appeared,  immediately  after,  with  an- 
other of  the  young  men  of  the  fishing-gang  to  which 
they  belonged.  He  and  Tangier  were  now  quite 
intimate. 

"  I  was  afraid  you  might  not  get  away,"  said  Mr. 
Tangier  to  him  as  he  gave  him  his  hand,  and  as 
Drummond  introduced  Knapp,  his  companion.  "  But 
the  wind  has  hauled  into  the  northwest." 

"Yes,"  said  Drummond.  "There  is  no  chance  for 
a  haul  after  this,  I  suppose,  till  it  comes  round.  But, 
to  tell  you  the  truth,  I  would  have  come  any  way, 
even  if  the  boats  went  off  without  me.  Knapp  would 
have  hauled  double  for  me." 

Knapp  laughed,  and  said  that,  since  the  repairs  had 
begun  on  the  stage-house,  they  could  not  always  rely 
on  Drummond  in  the  boats.  "  They  "  were  a  crew  of 
young  fellows,  mostly  belonging  to  the  neighborhood, 
who  had  established  a  sort  of  camp  on  the  sea-shore, 
where  they  watched  for  the  signals  made  on  the  dif- 
ferent heights  which  showed  whether  there  were  or 
were  not  a  run  of  fish,  so  that  it  would  be  worth  while 
to  go  out  in  the  boats  with  the  long  seine. 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  145 

Mr.  Tangier  said  that  he  hoped  the  results  of  the 
new  conspiracy  would  be  important  enough  to  justify 
the  occasional  loss  of  a  Spanish  mackerel  or  of  a 
bluefish. 

At  this  moment  the  carry-all  from  Mrs.  Dunster's 
came  up  with  pretty  Miss  Gurtry,  with  Miss  May 
Eemington,  with  Mrs.  Dunster  and  old  Mrs.  Hasey. 
Tangier  took  care  to  hear  a  carpenter  call  him  up- 
stairs, so  that  Mr.  Drummond  might  have  the  pleasure 
of  giving  Miss  Gurtry  his  hand.  Miss  Remington 
had  already  sprung  out  on  the  other  side,  and  was 
holding  the  horse's  head  so  as  to  keep  herself  out  of 
the  way.  Mrs.  Fairbanks  took  Mrs.  Hasey  into  the 
reception-room,  as  they  began  to  call  the  old  bar-room 
of  the  stage-house,  and  Mr.  Drummond  had  to  decide 
which  of  the  young  ladies  needed  him  most.  Of 
course  he  decided  against  his  own  wishes,  and  went  to 
the  horse's  head. 

"No,  Mr.  Drummond,"  said  Miss  Remington,  "you 
are  very  kind,  but  you  must  leave  me  to  my  own 
affair.  Peg,  as  we  call  her,  understands  me,  and  I 
understand  her.  I  will  just  lead  her  into  the  shed, 
and  I  will  join  you  and  Miss  Gurtry  in  a  moment.  I 
have  been  telling  Miss  Gurtry  that  I  want  her  to  look 
at  the  frieze  which  Mr.  Tangier  has  ordered  from  some 
of  the  swell  paper-men  in  New  York.  I  think  it  is 
absurd  myself,  but  Miss  Gurtry's  eye  is  rather  better 
than  mine." 

And  with  this  the  crafty  girl  took  herself  and  her 
horse  away,  and  Mr.  Drummond  and  Miss  Gurtry  were 
left  together  exactly  as  she  had  intended. 

It  was  long,  indeed,  that  afternoon,  before,  in  the 
intricacies  of  the  house,  inspecting  of  the  various 

10 


146  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

rooms,  of  staircases  taken  away  and  ladders  for 
climbing,  one  of  these  societies  of  ladies  found  the 
other.  This  was  not,  indeed,  so  strange,  since  Miss 
May  Remington  was  determined  that  she  would  not 
interrupt  the  tete-a-tete  between  Mr.  Druminond  and 
Miss  Gurtry ;  since  Mrs.  Fairbanks  was  equally  de- 
termined that  Mrs.  Hasey  should  not  interrupt  it ;  and 
since  Mr.  Tangier  had  planned  the  whole  expedition 
in  order  that  these  two  young  people  might  be  to- 
gether. How  little  Mr.  Drummond  or  Miss  Gurtry 
knew  that  the  stars  in  their  courses  were  fighting  for 
them,  and  how  annoyed  one  of  them  at  least  would 
have  been,  could  she  have  suspected  that  her  most 
private  affairs  were  thus  a  matter  of  interest  to  other 
people ! 

Mr.  Drummond  was  so  shy  that  he  blushed,  and 
knew  he  blushed,  as  he  said  to  Miss  Gurtry :  "  I  am 
amused  to  see  how  much  there  is  to  be  decided  before 
we  can  clean  up  an  old  tavern.  All  this  about  tints 
which  harmonize  and  tints  which  do  not  harmonize  is 
a  very  new  affair  to  a  fisherman  like  me." 

Miss  Gurtry  made  courage  enough  to  say:  "You 
have  not  been  a  fisherman  so  long,  Mr.  Drummond, 
that  you  have  lost  all  knowledge  of  the  inside  of  a 
house,  I  suppose.  Indeed,  they  tell  me  that  the  house- 
keeping is  very  good  down  on  the  beach." 

"Who  tells  you  so?  "  said  Mr.  Drummond,  a  little 
surprised.     "  I  did  not  know  that  the  fame  of  our  life »'; 
had  extended  so  far  up  as  your  school-house,  which  I 
think  we  must  now  call  the  centre  of  the  world,  since 
the  side-walk  victory." 

His  surprise  gave  her  a  little  courage,  and  she  said : 
"  Oh,  you  think  that,  because  we  are  an  interior  dis- 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  147 

trict,  we  know  nothing  about  shad  and  bluefish  and 
mackerel!  I  assure  you  that  we  get  a  sniff  of  the 
sea-air  sometimes,  and  there  is  one  of  your  boys,  who 
is  now  on  a  visit  with  one  of  my  boys,  and  therefore 
is  sent  to  my  school.  I  believe  they  thought  that  it 
was  necessary  that  he  should  have  mountain  air."  The 
girl  spoke  now  as  if  she  felt  a  little  more  at  ease, 
that  she  was  speaking  of  what  was  really  her  own 
affair. 

"  I  remember,"  said  Mr.  Drummond,  "  and  really 
the  boy  tells  you  the  truth ;  the  doctor  thought,  and  I 
guess  thought  truly,  that  being  wet  through  five  times  a 
day  was  of  no  great  advantage  to  Jotham.  Country  air 
is  a  very  good  thing  when  it  is  accompanied  with  cloth- 
ing reasonably  dry  and  a  first-rate  education.  Do  you 
know,  Miss  Gurtry,  I  also  am  one  of  the  great  army 
of  schoolmasters  ?  I  kept  school  when  I  was  five 
years  younger  than  I  am." 

The  girl  did  not  tell  him  that  one  of  the  big  boys 
who  had  helped  in  making  the  sidewalk  —  and,  in 
fact,  had  done  the  most  work  that  any  of  them  had 
done  —  had  talked  to  her  well  into  the  middle  of  the 
night,  one  evening,  of  his  enthusiasm  for  Mr.  Drum- 
mond, and  the  help  that  Mr.  Drummond  had  given  him 
in  school  and  out  of  school ;  and  had  spoken  of  Mr. 
Drummond  as  one  of  General  Grant's  aids  might  have 
spoken  of  him,  with  that  enthusiasm  which  is  itself  the 
best  education,  and  worth  a  hundred  times  all  the  in. 
struction  that  can  be  given  by  all  the  cyclopaedia-bred 
men  in  the  world.  She  did  not  dare  tell  Mr.  Drummond 
how  much  she  knew  of  him  through  the  eager  and  en- 
thusiastic gossip  of  this  boy.  All  that  she  did  say  was : 
"  Oh,  yes,  almost  everybody  is  a  teacher  sooner  or  later ! 


148  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

People  teach  till  they  find  they  can  do  something 
better,  or  what  they  think  is  something  better." 

"  Yes,"  said  Drummond ;  "  in  the  gang  down  on  the 
beach  we  were  talking  of  it  the  other  night.  I  found 
that  half  the  boys  (as  we  call  each  other,  for  we  are 
really  all  men)  had  sooner  or  later  been  in  one  district 
school  or  another.  Sometimes  I  think  it  is  better  so, 
and  sometimes  I  suppose  that  it  leaves  the  training  of 
the  little  ones  to  be  all  a  matter  of  choice."  Then, 
with  a  gulp  of  great  courage,  he  said :  "  I  wish  I  could 
have  gone  to  your  school,  Miss  Gurtry."  And  he  pre- 
tended to  laugh. 

"You  would  not  say  so  if  you  had  seen  it,"  said 
she.  "  I  was  more  ashamed  than  I  can  tell  the  other 
day,  when  your  friend  Mr.  Tangier  came  in  to  escape 
a  wetting.  It  sometimes  seems  absurd  to  call  it  a 
school.  But  I  can  tell  you,  indeed,  Mr.  Drummond, 
there  is  nothing  we  do  not  teach  there,  from  the  art  of 
washing  the  hands  with  ivory  soap  round  to  words  in 
three  syllables.  Really,  this  business  of  the  sidewalk 
came  in  quite  naturally  as  a  part  of  the  very  various 
exercises  of  the  school." 

"  You  are  not  graded  yet,"  he  said,  and  he  laughed  ; 
for  the  grading  of  the  schools  had  been  a  matter  of 
town  politics  of  the  most  intense  interest.  Montagues 
and  Capulets  had,  indeed,  quarrelled  on  the  question 
whether  the  school  should  be  graded  or  no. 

Ah,  me  !  it  did  not  matter  what  these  young  people 
talked  about  with  each  other.  Miss  May  Remington 
had  seen  with  a  very  keen  eye  when  she  had  noticed 
Mr.  Drummond's  bearing  with  the  pretty  schoolmis- 
tress, as  she  called  her,  on  the  last  picnic  party  which 
they  had  had  at  the  old  stage-house.  Mr.  Drummond 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  149 

regretted,  in  all  this  talk  in  the  question  about  friezes 
and  the  decision  about  staircases,  that  he  could  in  no 
way  appear  at  what  he  supposed  was  his  best  to  Miss 
Gurtry.  And  the  poor  fellow  supposed,  of  course, 
that  he  was  making  blunders  all  the  time  and  was 
appearing  at  his  worst.  In  fact,  he  was  a  manly,  in- 
telligent fellow,  who  had  his  own  canoe  to  paddle  and 
was  paddling  it ;  who  knew  that  he  ought  to  be  of 
some  use  in  the  world  and  was  of  much  more  use  than 
he  thought  he  was ;  and  the  first  moment  when  he  was 
unconscious  he  was  singularly  attractive  :  first,  from 
the  directness  of  speech  with  which  he  always  ad- 
dressed himself  to  the  subject  in  hand;  and  second, 
from  the  indifference  to  himself,  which  you  could  not 
but  notice,  in  his  way  of  handling  that  subject,  what- 
ever it  might  be. 


150  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

WHEN"  Miss  May  Eemington  was  sure  that 
Mr.  Drummond  and  the  schoolmistress  were 
alone  together  in  the  shaving-piled  room  where  they 
were  talking,  she  was  well  pleased  with  her  work,  and 
she  said  so. 

She  was  with  Mr.  Tangier  and  Mrs.  Dunster  in 
another  room,  where  the  shavings  had  been  roughly 
swept  up  on  one  side.  "  Mr.  Tangier  and  Mrs.  Dun- 
ster/' she  said,  as  she  seated  herself  on  a  tool-box,  "  we 
have  not  lived  in  vain." 

Mr.  Tangier  pretended  not  to  understand  her. 
"  They  have  done  something  since  I  was  here ;  but  I 
hoped  things  would  be  more  cleared  up." 

"  They !  Mr.  Tangier,  you  do  not  deceive  me ! 
What  is  a  week,  more  or  less,  in  the  opening  of  your 
Palace  of  Delight  here,  when  compared  with  the  joy 
or  wretchedness  in  life  of  two  human  beings  who  are 
now  downstairs  ?  If  Mrs.  Dunster  with  her  gray 
horse  Tom,  and  I  by  my  occasional  words  of  wisdom, 
and  you  by  your  ready  assent  to  plans  which  you  only 
partly  approved  and  only  partly  comprehended,  —  if 
we  three  have  achieved  this,  why,  let  us  die  happy." 

"As  to  that,"  said  Mr.  Tangier,  laughing,  "I  had 
much  rather  live  happy."  And  Mrs.  Dunster  agreed 
with  him.  Then  he  went  on  to  say  that  he  could  not 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATION'S.  151 

see  why  all  this  working  was  needed.  He  had  not 
seen,  since  the  beginning,  why,  if  Mr.  Drummond 
liked  Miss  Gurtry,  he  should  not  go  and  tell  her  so. 

"  And  I  suppose,"  said  Miss  May,  indignantly,  "  I 
suppose  if  Miss  Gurtry  is  conscious  some  morning 
that  she  remembers  with  pleasure  something  said  to 
her,  and  would  like  to  go  on  with  the  friendly  inti- 
macy, she  is  to  go  and  tell  him  so !  Really,  Mr.  Tan- 
gier, the  profession  of  a  great  conveyancer  —  are  you 
a  conveyancer  ?  —  leaves  some  great  gaps  of  —  I  will 
not  say  ignorance  !  Pray,  is  Miss  Gurtry  to  dismiss 
school  early,  and  walk  down  to  the  beach  and  climb 
up  the  steps  to  the  fish-houses,  and  say,  '  Which  is 
Mr.  Drummond's  house  ? '  And,  when  poor  Drum- 
mond has  come  out,  all  dazed  and  wondering,  is  she  to 
say,  '  I  thought  I  would  like  to  tell  you  something  I 
thought  of  after  you  went  away '  ?  Eeally,  Mr.  Tan- 
gier, if  you  expect  that,  you  expect  much  more  than 
you  will  have." 

"  This  is  to  be  said,"  said  Mrs.  Dunster.  "  If  there 
were  no  such  difficulties,  we  should  have  no  novels. 
What  is  it  all  but  the  fanning  of  the  spark  till  the 
fire  flames  ?  " 

"  Or  the  rubbing  the  match,"  said  Mr.  Tangier. 
"  We  do  not  have  tinder-boxes  now,  and  we  know  but 
little  of  sparks.  But  say  'match.'  Perhaps  you  do 
not  rub  it  hard  enough;  then  it  goes  out.  Perhaps 
you  rub  too  hard;  then  it  breaks  and  a  bit  of  fire 
drops  to  the  floor,  and  you  put  your  foot  on  it,  and 
that  is  all.  Perhaps  it  just  lights,  and  you  hold  it, 
in  terror  —  oh,  how  still !  —  afraid  you  shall  blow  out 
the  blue  flame ;  then — joy  of  joys !  —  it  burns.  Then 
you  turn  on  the  gas  — ' 


152  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

"  And  the  rush  of  air  is  so  great  it  blows  out  the 
match ! "  cried  Miss  May,  delighted. 

"Not  at  all!  You  waited  till  the  first  rush  was 
gone  !  You  touched  the  gas,  and  all  was  light  where 
it  was  dark,  and  happiness  where  it  was  doubt." 

"Now  you  talk  like  a  reasonable  being,  Mr.  Tangier, 
and  not  like  a  conveyancer." 

"  I  am  not  a  conveyancer,  and  never  was."- 

"  It  makes  no  difference.  You  are  something,  and 
I  do  not  know  what  a  conveyancer  is.  Anyway,  you 
talk  sense  now.  And  I  beg  you  to  observe  that  the 
interview  downstairs  is  not  a  thing  which  happens 
every  day  in  the  lines  of  fishermen,  or  in  the  lines  of 
schoolmistresses.  For  me,  I  am  neither ;  I  can  teach 
nothing,  because  I  know  nothing,  and  I  am  sea-sick  in 
a  boat,  so  I  cannot  fish.  But  all  the  same,  Mr.  Tan- 
gier, I  see  the  advantage  of  mixing  people  together." 

Mr.  Tangier  said  that  an  amusing  report  of  Tom 
Hughes  tells  the  difficulties  they  had  in  the  Working- 
men's  College,  in  London,  in  making  government 
clerks  in  the  post-office  meet  cordially  with  the  makers 
of  delicate  astronomical  instruments.  The  officer  of 
the  Queen  considered  that  his  rank  was  higher  than 
that  of  the  man  who  had  no  commission. 

"Fountain  of  honor!  Yes,"  said  the  bright  girl, 
thinking,  "I  think  that  helps  us  about  the  theory. 
Now,  if  we  can  all  see  that  we  are  the  King's  Daugh- 
ters, and  the  King's  Sons  too,  —  that  we  take  our 
honors  direct,  —  perhaps  we  shall  all  get  over  Mr. 
Hughes's  troubles."  And  she  pointed  to  the  little  bit  of 
purple  ribbon  which  marked  her  as  a  King's  Daughter. 

"Precisely,"  said  Mrs.  Dunster.  "And  if  you  will 
both  come  down  from  the  heights  a  little,  you  will  see 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  153 

that  this  is  what  our  sidewalk  and  our  '  Palace  of  De- 
light '  here  are  for.  Accept  the  meeting  downstairs  as 
a  good  omen.  You  want  a  name  for  your  palace,  Mr. 
Tangier.  Call  it  'The  Happy  Meeting.'" 

"As  to  that,"  said  he,  "the  old  Yankee  word, 
'Meeting-house/  was  a  much  better  word  than  the 
purists  knew  who  threw  it  out.  I  suppose  the  word 
'  together '  is  the  centre  of  Christianity.  '  Synagogue ' 
meant  meeting-house,  and  I  do  not  know  why  the 
grand  people  try  to  discard  so  good  a  word." 

"  This  place  will  always  be  called  '  The  Old  Stage- 
house,'  "  said  Miss  May.  "  You  cannot  change  names 
by  votes.  But  if  it  is  a  meeting-house,  really  and 
truly,  that  is  what  it  is  for." 

Then  they  went  off,  talking  about  Mr.  Walter 
Besant  and  the  way  in  which  his  "  Impossible  Story  " 
of  "  All  Sorts  and  Conditions  of  Men  "  had  proved  it- 
self possible,  and  had  worked  out  the  palace  which  he 
dedicated  the  other  day.  "  Only,"  said  Mr.  Tangier, 
sadly,  "  this  I  have  seen.  I  have  seen  a  lobster  on  the 
beach  with  almost  no  shell,  who  made  for  himself  an 
excellent  shell.  But  I  never  saw  a  lobster-shell,  how- 
ever perfect,  which  made  of  itself  a  living  lobster." 

"Nor  did  I,"  said  May  Remington,  sadly,  too. 
"  But  is  n't  this  perhaps  because  the  lobster-shells  you 
and  I  see  have  been  boiled,  Mr.  Tangier  ?  They  are 
red  and  not  black." 

"  I  see  what  you  mean,"  said  he.  "  Let  us  hope 
that  there  is  a  live  lobster  somewhere,  and  that  he 
will  not  be  afraid  of  a  live  shell." 

And  then  they  went  downstairs  again,  into  all  the 
rooms  but  one.  They  changed  the  order  that  had  been 
given  about  double  doors  in  the  reading-room.  They 


154  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

ordered  the  east  window  in  the  reception-room  to  be 
cut  down  and  changed  into  a  door  out  upon  the  west 
piazza.  Many  other  like  details  did  they  attend  to. 
But  they  did  not  interfere  with  the  interview,  though 
it  was  somewhat  prolonged,  between  Miss  Gurtry  and 
Mr.  Drummond. 


MR.   TANGIER'S   VACATIONS,  155 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

AT  this  moment,  however,  the  afternoon  was  bro- 
ken, and  if  Miss  May  Remington  had  any 
slight  hopes  of  observing  the  results  of  her  strata- 
gems for  other  people's  comforts,  she  was  disap- 
pointed. The  clatter  of  a  light  wagon  at  the  door 
called  some  one  to  the  window,  who  announced  a  tele- 
graph boy.  The  well-known  yellow  envelope  in  his 
hand  was  token  who  he  was  before  he  spoke. 

"  I  am  the  one  who  is  in  no  danger,"  said  Mr. 
Tangier,  as  the  boy  came  upstairs  to  them,  in  answer 
to  Mrs.  Fairbanks's  call.  "  Heeren  knows  far  too 
much  to  send  one  of  those  things  at  my  head." 

But  the  boy  called  for  "Mr.  Tan-geer"  as  he  en- 
tered the  room,  and  demanded  a  dollar  as  his  compen- 
sation for  coming  from  Knox.  Mrs.  Fairbanks  paid 
the  dollar  and  bade  the  boy  wait,  while  poor  Mr. 
Tangier,  with  a  troubled  look  on  his  face,  took  his 
fatal  yellow  sheet  to  the  window. 

Mr.  Heeren  announced,  with  regret,  even  in  his  tele- 
graphic brevity,  that  Mr.  Grace  was  failing  rapidly, 
and  that  there  was  every  reason  why  Mr.  Tangier 
should  see  him  at  once,  if  this  were  possible.  Mr. 
Tangier  read,  read  again,  looked  at  his  watch,  passed 
the  despatch  to  the  sympathizing  Mrs.  Dunster,  and 
asked  the  boy  for  a  blank.  The  boy,  of  course,  had 


156  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

none,  such  being  the  order,  apparently,  of  the  Western 
Union. 

Miss  Remington  opened  her  bag  and  produced  one. 
At  his  request,  she  wrote  for  Mr.  Tangier,  whose 
hand  was  still  disabled :  — 

"  All  right.     I  will  come  on  the  express  to-night.  —  T." 

"Mr.  Drummond  and  the  rest  will  expect  you  at 
their  collation,  Mrs.  Dunster,"  he  said.  "  But  I  must 
go  home,  at  least  for  a  day.  Miss  Remington,  I  won- 
der if  you  could  not  drive  me  over  to  Mrs.  Fairbanks's 
and  do  some  writing  for  me.  Nathan  shall  take  me 
to  the  express,  and  then  you  can  come  back  to  them." 
And  then  he  smiled  for  the  first  time  and  said,  "  You 
will  not  mind  missing  the  feast." 

But  Miss  May  had  already  disappeared.  She  picked 
up  a  boy  on  her  way  to  the  horse-shed,  and  in  a  minute 
more  they  had  brought  the  carriage  round  to  the  door. 
She  and  Mr.  Tangier  were  soon  in  Mrs.  Fairbanks's 
"little  room,"  as  it  was  always  called. 

Mr.  Tangier  dictated  some  careful  and  quite  exten- 
sive orders  to  Scott  Meakin.  He  wrote  a  note  to  the 
man  who  represented  the  owners  of  the  stage-house, 
and  made  him  a  definite  offer  for  the  rent  of  that  build- 
ing for  five  years,  giving  him  one  week  for  an  answer. 
He  wrote  a  note  of  farewell  to  the  doctor,  and  another 
to  Mr.  Burdett.  That  is  to  say,  Miss  Remington  wrote 
these  notes.  They  were  even  signed  with  his  name, 
"by  R.,"  as  he  instructed  her.  All  this  she  did 
promptly,  and  without  curiosity  or  surprise.  Then 
she  said,  "I  am  sorry  that  you  write  as  if  you  were 
not  coming  back  soon." 

"  On  the  contrary,"  said  he,  "  I  hope  I  may  be  back 


MR.   TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  157 

on  Monday.  But  who  knows?  I  do  not  choose  to 
leave  this  thing,  or,  indeed,  anything,  dependent  on 
such  a  trifle  as  a  clot  of  blood,  harder  or  softer,  in  the 
nape  of  my  neck.  And  I  am  quite  too  much  inter- 
ested in  our  'Palace  of  Delight'  to  let  the  experiment 
hinge  on  the  accident  of  my  life."  All  this  he  said 
quite  seriously.  The  girl  had  seen  the  serious  phase 
in  him  often,  indeed.  But  she  liked  this  frankness  in 
speaking  of  death  more  than  anything  she  had  seen. 
Then  he  crossed  the  room  and  shut  the  door.  "  Miss 
May,"  he  said,  "they  take  up  the  contribution  at 
church  next  Sunday  for  the  sidewalk.  I  do  not  want 
the  thing  to  be  botched.  On  the  other  hand,  I  do  not 
want  to  be  known  as  its  chief  promoter.  You  will 
find  in  my  pocket-book  nearly  thirty  dollars,  in  money 
of  all  sorts,  which  I  have  been  collecting  and  reserv- 
ing for  use  in  this  contribution.  Manage,  somehow, 
that  a  dozen  different  people  put  this  money  into  the 
contribution  boxes,  and  do  not  let  any  one  of  them 
know  that  any  one  else  has  such  a  charge." 

"I  see,  I  understand,  and  I  obey,"  said  the  girl, 
amused  by  his  complete  comprehension  of  the  posi- 
tion, and  well  pleased  to  find  that  he  trusted  her  good 
sense  for  such  a  commission.  She  understood  this 
man  better  from  the  half-hour  which  she  thus  spent 
on  this  work,  than  she  did  from  the  weeks  in  which 
they  had  met,  almost  every  day,  since  her  arrival.  So 
soon  as  she  had  taken  the  money,  he  called  to  Nathan 
and  set  him  to  packing  his  portmanteau.  Nathan 
proved  but  a  dull  valet,  however.  Miss  Kemington 
had  not  been  sent  away,  and  when  she  saw  the  boy 
vainly  trying  to  make  Creasy's  "Fifteen  Battles" 
break  a  portable  inkstand  which  he  was  crowding 


158  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

into  the  wrong  compartment,  she  begged  leave  to 
come  to  the  rescue.  "I  do  it  for  my  father  every 
time  he  goes  on  circuit.  Nathan,  you  can  be  eating 
your  supper  and  harnessing  Dan.  I  am  sure  I  can  do 
it,  Mr.  Tangier,  if  you  will  tell  me  what  you  want." 
Then  she  begged  pardon  very  nicely  and  said,  "  I  do 
so  hate  to  see  a  thing  done  wrong." 

He  did  not  need  any  apology.  He  also  hated  to 
see  things  done  wrong,  and  was  chafing  all  the  time 
for  his  "  imbecile  inability,"  as  he  called  it. 

So  he  and  Nathan  were  on  time  when  the  express 
stopped  at  Knox,  and  at  eleven  o'clock  that  night  he 
was  in  his  own  bed  again,  courting  such  sleep  as  the 
starched  bandage  on  his  right  arm  would  allow  him. 

The  next  morning  at  ten  o'clock  he  presented  him- 
self, by  appointment  made  already  by  Mr.  Heeren, 
at  the  house  of  his  dying  client  Mr.  Grace.  In  a 
drawing-room  he  found  Dr.  Morton  with  two  other 
physicians  whom  he  knew  well.  The  three  admitted 
him,  as  a  confidential  person,  to  the  close  of  their 
consultation. 

"  Yes,  I  am  glad  you  are  here,"  said  Morton.  "  Prac- 
tically, it  is  all  over.  But  his  mind  is  as  clear  as  a 
bell,  and  if  you  want  or  he  wants  to  make  any  farther 
arrangements,  now  is  your  time.  He  expects  you,  and 
the  sooner  you  begin,  why,  the  sooner  you  will  be  done. 
Poor  fellow !  He  slept  so  little  yesterday  that  we  would 
have  given  him  a  sedative  to-day,  but  for  you."  And 
so  Mr.  Tangier  went  upstairs. 

"It  is  much  as  I  told  you,  Mr.  Tangier,"  said  the 
sick  man,  even  cheerfully,  as  the  lawyer  took  his  seat- 
by  the  bedside.  "You  will  excuse  my  hand.  I  do 
not  move  easily.  Yes ;  if  you  remember,  I  said  I 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  159 

had  not  many  weeks.  And  now  I  am  so  sorry  to 
call  you  back  from  your  holiday." 

Mr.  Tangier,  in  a  word  or  two,  implied  that  he  was 
sorry  for  the  cause,  but  that  really  he  should  have 
come  before  but  for  his  accident. 

"  Your  arm  hurt !  Indeed,  I  did  not  notice.  We 
sick  people  are  so  selfish.  All  the  same,  I  can  tell 
you  what  I  want.  Since  I  have  been  lying  here,  I 
have  thought  of  several  things  which  slipped  my  mind 
that  day.  If  you  will  put  them  on  paper  this  morn- 
ing, I  can  execute  the  thing  at  noon ;  and  then,"  with 
a  lovely  smile  he  said  this,  "  I  shall  be  quite  through." 

The  tears  were  in  Mr.  Tangier's  eyes,  but  he  tried 
to  smile  also.  The  dying  man  called  his  attention  to 
a  porcelain  slate  on  the  bedquilt,  and  bade  him  read 
the  memoranda  on  it.  They  were  bequests,  —  some 
of  large  sums,  some  of  little  tokens  of  personal  affec- 
tion, —  he  explained,  with  perfect  simplicity  and  ease. 
Mr.  Tangier  read  them,  received  the  other's  explana- 
tion, and  said,  "  This  is  very  simple ;  is  this  all  ?  " 

"  Not  at  all,"  said  Mr.  Grace.  "  For  this  I  would 
not  have  telegraphed  you.  Mr.  Heeren  would  have 
done  this,  or  my  executors,  indeed,  would  respect  that 
slate.  But,  as  I  said  to  you,  I  am  in  doubt  about  that 
larger  gift,  which  a  man,  as  prosperous  and  as  happy 
as  I,  owes  to  the  country  which  has  given  him  his 
property,  or  to  the  church  which  has  tried  to  teach 
him  how  to  live.  Fix  the  amount  at  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  Mr.  Tangier.  That  is  the  meaning 
of  that  separate  memorandum.  Easy  enough  to  write 
that.  But,  as  your  friend  Lord  Lytton  says,  'What 
shall  he  do  with  it  ? '  You  know  I  doubted  before. 
I  am  somewhat  doubtful  still." 


160  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

"You  spoke  of  leaving  a  large  discretion  to  your 
executors,"  said  the  otlier. 

"  Yes.  But,  as  I  lie  here,  this  seems  to  me  mean, 
not  to  say  foolish.  If  I  do  not  know  what  I  want, 
how  in  the  world  should  they  know  ?  " 

"  You  spoke  of  the  University  for  Moral  Science." 

"  Yes,"  said  Mr.  Grace,  doubtfully  and  inquiringly, 
and  then  was  silent. 

"  You  spoke  of  a  Home  for  Old  Married  Couples." 

"Yes,"  said  Mr.  Grace,  perhaps  with  a  little  more 
interest,  but  again  there  was  silence. 

"We  talked  of  Travelling  Scholarships  for  gradu- 
ates." 

"  Yes,"  said  Mr.  Grace,  quite  indifferent  now.  And 
after  a  moment  he  added :  "  And  I  said,  of  all  these, 
that  they  were  things  other  people  would  think  of, 
and  that  each  of  them  was  outside  my  life  and  me." 

"  You  said,"  said  Mr.  Tangier,  "  that  you  looked 
back  happily  and  with  interest  to  your  native  place, 
Steuben's  Ford.  You  said  that  you  knew  it  would 
always  be  a  cheerful,  healthy  country  town,  and  never 
rattling,  prosperous  place  of  manufacture.  You  said 
that  you  wanted  to  be  remembered  there,  and,  in  the 
will  I  drew,  there  is  a  gift  of  ten  thousand  dollars  for 
the  foundation  of  a  library  there." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  other,  not  indifferent  this  time,  but 
with  a  sort  of  eager  sympathy.  It  may  be  said  that 
it  was  Mr.  Tangier's  readiness  of  interest,  by  which 
he  recollected  each  little  detail  of  his  clients'  affairs, 
and  put  himself  eagerly  in  the  places  they  were  in,  — 
that  it  was  this  which  made  him  the  favorite  he  was 
among  the  men  who  consulted  him. 

"Mr.  Grace,"  said  he  now,  "perhaps  I  shall  sur- 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  161 

prise  you.  But  I  also  have  thought  much  of  your 
will  since  I  was  in  the  country. 

"  I  have  seen  a  country  village,  much  like  what 
you  describe  your  Steuben's  Ford  in  its  make-up.  I 
have  seen  all  sorts  of  people,  —  good,  bad,  and  neither. 
The  thing  they  want  most  is  better  acquaintance  with 
each  other,  —  more  easy  intimacy  and  society.  A 
dozen  times  I  have  said  to  myself,  '  If  Mr.  Grace  has 
no  other  plans,  I  will  advise  him  to  make  a  larger 
bequest  to  his  old  home.' " 

"Two  hundred  thousand  dollars,"  said  the  other, 
this  time  with  some  surprise.  "Another  academy?" 

"  Hardly  that,"  said  Mr.  Tangier.  "  You  think,  and 
I  think,  that  money  enough  is  spent  on  children 
already.  If  I  were  you,  I  would  give  this  money 
for  '  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men ' ;  the  same  sorts 
and  conditions  for  whom  you  pray  every  Sunday.  I 
would  enlarge  the  library  bequest  to  fifty  thousand 
dollars.  I  would  direct  the  trustees  to  connect  with 
the  library,  rooms  for  concerts,  reading-rooms,  chess 
and  checker  rooms,  —  theatres,  if  they  choose,  —  places 
where  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men  can  meet  each 
other.  I  would  have  tennis  courts  and  croquet  grounds 
and  archery  grounds  in  the  garden  around  the  hall. 
I  would  permit  the  trustees  to  spend  money  for  musi- 
cal instruments,  if  the  people  would  make  a  band.  I 
would  keep  a  greenhouse  by  the  library  for  the  com- 
mon good.  If  necessary,  I  would  found  prizes  to 
interest  the  children  in  gardening.  In  a  word,  I 
would  do  what  I  could  to  make  Steuben's  Ford  as 
pleasant  a  place  to  live  in,  —  well,  as  there  is  in  this 
world." 

"Mr.  Tangier,  I  thank  you  a  thousand  times. 
11 


162  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

Please  open  my  desk.  No,  not  that ;  the  small 
desk,  between  the  windows.  Look  in.  No;  the 
upper  part.  See  a  file  there  marked  '  Gansevoort/ 
is  it  not  ?  " 

Mr.  Tangier  found  the  file,  as  the  accurate  merchant 
directed. 

"  Take  those  papers  and  you  will  find  some  hints  in 
the  same  line.  I  am  so  glad  to  see  that  a  man  of  your 
sense  has  come  at  this  same  point.  They  are  going 
to  give  me  some  beef-tea  and  champagne  now.  But 
if  you  will  have  this  ready  at  one,  I  will  be  ready. 
You  have  made  me  more  happy  than  you  can  think. 
I  cannot  thank  you  enough  for  coming  home  from 
your  holiday." 

And  so  the  courteous  prince  smiled  again.  As  Mr. 
Tangier  rose  from  his  chair,  Mr.  Grace  said,  "  I  think 
you  may  as  well  say  three  instead  of  two." 

"You  mean  three  hundred  thousand,"  said  Mr. 
Tangier. 

"  Precisely,"  said  Mr.  Grace. 

Mr.  Tangier  called  in  the  nurse  from  the  next  room, 
and  went  downstairs.  Here  he  called  his  short-hand 
writer,  who  was  waiting,  and  sat  down  with  him  in 
that  same  parlor  where  the  physicians  had  consulted. 
The  elegance  of  the  furniture  seemed  ghastly,  as  it 
had  seemed  before,  now  that  they  were  almost  in 
presence  of  death.  Mr.  Tangier  pulled  aside  the  lace 
curtains  and  raised  the  shade,  bade  the  young  man| 
draw  up  an  elegant  blue  satin  ottoman  to  the  light, 
and  sit  upon  it  while  he  wrote.  He  opened  the  file 
of  papers  to  which  Mr.  Grace  had  referred  him,  and 
in  a  very  few  minutes  found  that  his  client  had  an- 
ticipated him  in  some  of  the  very  plans  which  he  had 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  163 

been  forming,  and  in  the  experiences  which  he  had 
passed  through  at  Tenterdon. 

In  a  few  compact  and  intelligible  sentences  the 
codicil  was  drawn  on  the  lines  indicated  in  the  largest 
paper  in  his  hand,  and  hinted  at  in  his  own  sugges- 
tions to  Mr.  Grace.  A  board  of  seven  trustees  was 
appointed,  one  of  whom  was  to  be  chosen,  once  in  five 
years,  by  the  people  of  the  town ;  one  was  the  minis- 
ter of  the  old  church ;  one  was  the  judge  of  probate 
of  the  county;  and  the  others  were  named  by  the 
testator.  This  board  was  to  appoint  the  successors  to 
these  four  on  their  death  or  resignation.  The  objects 
of  the  trust  were  briefly  but  sufficiently  stated.  They 
were  to  maintain  a  building  near  the  middle  of  the 
town,  sufficient  for  a  library,  for  concerts  and  other 
entertainments,  with  rooms  for  pictures,  reading,  con- 
versation, and  improving  social  gatherings ;  they  were 
to  maintain  a  public  garden  and  greenhouse,  and,  in 
general,  to  provide  measures  for  making  life  attrac- 
tive and  happy  to  the  people  and  to  strangers  among 
them.  In  the  execution  of  their  trust  they  were  to 
make  no  distinction  of  race,  class,  calling,  or  birth. 
Mr.  Tangier  borrowed,  as  he  had  before  done,  the 
language  of  Mr.  Besant,  and  directed  that  the  Library 
Hall,  as  it  was  called,  should  be  arranged  for  the 
benefit  of  "all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men." 

The  clerk  withdrew,  with  instructions  to  bring  two 
copies  of  the  will  at  one  o'clock.  Mr.  Tangier  did  not 
even  leave  the  house.  He  spread  a  newspaper  on 
the  satin  of  the  sofa  nearest  the  window,  lest  his 
boots  might  soil  it,  stretched  himself  at  length,  and 
took  from  the  clerk's  bag  a  book  which  contained 
the  printed  evidence  on  both  sides  in  a  patent  case  in 


164  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

•which  he  was  retained.  He  knew  very  well  that  no 
one  would  seek  him  in  Mr.  Grace's  palace.  Of  what 
might  happen  in  his  own  office  he  was  not  so  certain. 
Lying  thus,  he  read  for  three  hours. 

At  one  the  codicil  was  ready.  Mr.  Tangier  read  it 
and  read  it  again  with  diligent  criticism. 

At  quarter-past  one,  Dr.  Morton  came  by  appoint- 
ment and  went  upstairs.  In  a  few  minutes  more  a 
servant  called  Mr.  Tangier,  and  he  went  again  into  the 
sick  man's  room,  this  time  followed  by  the  clerk,  who 
went  as  a  witness. 

Mr.  Grace  seemed  as  cheerful  as  he  had  been  in  the 
morning,  light-hearted,  indeed,  that  this  affair  was  off 
his  mind.  Mr.  Tangier  read  to  him,  slowly,  first  the 
private  articles,  which  he  had  copied  from  the  slate, 
and  then  the  longer  and  more  important  article,  which 
in  this  form  Mr.  Grace  now  heard  for  the  first  time. 
He  approved  of  the  draft,  and  called  to  the  bedside 
Dr.  Morton  and  the  clerk. 

"Gentlemen,"  he  said,  "this  bequest,  which  Mr. 
Tangier  puts  in  form  for  me,  is  no  new  thing  to  me. 
He  will  show  you  a  paper  in  which  I  sketched  some 
plans  for  it  some  time  ago.  But  I  like  his  phrase.  It 
is  for  my  birthplace,  Steuben's  Ford.  We  shall  build 
what  we  call  a  Library  Hall  there,  for  '  all  sorts  and 
conditions  of  men.'  I  have  made  a  self-perpetuating 
board  of  trustees,  but  three  of  them  are  to  be  the 
judge  of  probate,  the  minister,  and  one  person  chosen, 
every  five  years,  by  the  town.  I  mean  that  they  shall 
spend  the  income  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
With  this  money  they  ought  to  be  able  to  heat  and 
warm  their  building,  to  maintain  the  garden  and  green- 
house, to  keep  open  rooms  fit  for  pictures,  for  reading 


MR.   TANGIER'S  VACATIONS.  165 

the  magazines,  and  other  social  purposes,  and  do  some- 
thing toward  providing  books  and  musical  instru- 
ments. I  say  this,  gentlemen,  that  you  may  see  I 
know  what  I  am  doing.  Take  the  paper  to  the  window 
and  see  how  well  Mr.  Tangier  has  drawn  it." 

Then,  as  they  withdrew,  he  asked  Mr.  Tangier 
about  the  accident  which  had  disabled  him,  and 
about  Tenterdon. 

The'  others  brought  back  the  document  and  placed 
it  quietly  in  Mr.  Tangier's  hand.  He  indicated  the 
places  where  it  was  to  be  signed.  Mr.  Grace  wrote 
his  name  firmly,  and  the  two  others  added  theirs  as 
witnesses.  Again  he  smiled  cheerfully,  and  this  time 
he  said  he  would  not  trouble  them  longer.  But  Dr. 
Morton  stayed  with  him.  As  for  Mr.  Tangier,  he  never 
saw  his  old  friend  again,  excepting  when  his  body  lay 
the  next  week  in  its  coffin. 


166  MR.   TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

'THHUS  ended  Mr.  Tangier's  first  vacation  in  Ten- 
JL  terdon ;  and  thus,  just  as  the  world  was  in  its 
first  beauty,  was  he  shipped  back  upon  his  work  in 
his  office,  with  a  hand  which  would  not  hold  a  pen, 
with  the  arrears  of  a  month's  business,  and  with  every 
one  in  the  office,  down  to  the  errand  boy,  curious  to 
know  when  he  could  be  spared  for  his  vacation.  No ; 
he  did  not  go  back  to  Tenterdon  on  Monday,  as  he  had 
dreamed  of  doing.  Courts  did  not  yet  begin  on  their 
holidays.  Indeed,  when  they  did,  there  would  be  end- 
less hearings  in  chambers  and  references  and  the  like, 
which  had  been,  one  by  one,  shoved  over  into  this 
"  period  of  peaceful  rest,"  so  that  Mr.  Heeren  said  it 
was  worse  crowded  than  the  heaviest  weeks  of  the 
summer. 

But  Mr.  Tangier  attacked  all  his  little  jobs  cheer- 
fully, and  his  great  jobs  too.  He  took  ten  times  as 
much  interest  in  one  appeal  from  Scott  Meakin  about 
the  finishing  of  the  stage-house,  as  he  did  in  the 
grandest  letter  from  Wall  street  about  an  investment. 
He  answered  Mrs.  Punster's  playful,  chatty  letters 
in  their  own  vein.  He  soon  found  that  the  practical 
correspondent,  who  kept  him  really  enlightened  as 
to  Tenterdon  life,  was  Miss  Eemington.  He  had,  in 
a  manner,  forced  the  correspondence  on  her,  by  ask- 
ing her  to  attend  to  sundry  and  various  forgotten 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  167 

and  yet  essential  details  in  the  stage-house,  which  sug- 
gested themselves  from  time  to  time.  At  first,  she 
answered  in  a  mere  business-like  form,  but  gradually 
the  letters  became  more  general.  And  when  she  did 
let  her  pen  run,  Tenterdon  took  on  its  old  charm 
again,  and  he  wondered  why  he  ground  at  the  wheel 
as  he  did,  and  counted  the  days  till  "Chisholm  vs. 
Chantry "  could  be  over  and  he  could  take  his  carpet- 
bag again. 

"  Scott  Meakin,"  she  wrote,  "  is  aghast  at  the  idea 
of  a  fireplace  which  shall  use  all  the  south  wall  of  the 
reading-room.  You  will  have  to  write  him  a  much 
stiffer  letter.  As  to  the  <  mop-boards,'  as  he  will 
call  them,  I  had  my  own  way,  —  I  believe  because 
women  and  mops  go  together.  Andirons,  Mrs.  Dun- 
ster  undertakes ;  thinks  she  knows  where  there  are 
some.  Yes,  I  spoke  to  Mr.  Burdett  about  the  parish 
library,  and  we  are  all  to  hear  the  Winthrop  music 
on  Sunday.  How  do  you  think  I  came  home  from 
his  house  ? 

"Tom  Pingree  brought  me.  I  was  lying  on  my 
back  on  his  hay-cart.  The  hay-cart  was  on  its  way 
through  the  main  street,  and  not  one  of  my  fellow- 
citizens  —  not  Mrs.  Floxam,  the  omniscient,  not 
Jennie  Campbell,  the  all-observant  —  dreamed  that 
I  was  there.  Tom  Pingree  only  knew,  but  never 
a  smile  nor  a  sign  from  him  revealed  my  secret  as 
he  drove. 

"You  may  talk  as  you  choose  about  being  tossed 
alone  on  a  billow  and  communing  with  Nature.  I  tell 
you  that  when  you  lie  on  your  back  on  the  top  of  a 
load  of  hay  —  if  the  load  be  only  high  enough  —  you 
may  commune  with  Nature  in  solitude  just  as  perfect 


168  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

and  in  comfort  much  more  sure.  The  blue  sky  above ; 
sometimes  a  flight  of  birds;  once,  really,  a  lonely 
eagle ;  just  as  we  came  into  the  barn-yard,  a  swoop- 
ing half-dozen  of  swallows ;  and  nothing  else,  but 
you  imagined  a  possible  angel  between  you  and  the 
empyrean.  Only,  when  Tom  drove  from  the  north 
meadows  into  the  main  street,  the  elms  came  be- 
tween, and  once  an  oriole's  nest  swept  so  near  to  me 
that  I  could  have  stolen  it  had  I  been  so  mean.  It  is 
the  only  way  we  can  fly ! " 

"  Is  life  worth  living  ? "  said  Mr.  Tangier,  as  he 
read  this  letter  to  Morton,  who  lay  in  the  bows  of 
their  boat,  as  she  drifted,  and  his  friend  lay  in  the 
stern.  "  Is  it  not  worth  living,  when  there  are  such 
chances  to  fly  ?  " 

"As  that  to  fly  or  as  this  to  float,"  said  Morton. 
"Touch  elbows  with  the  rank  and  file,  live  much  in 
the  open  air,  and  see  every  day  some  man  who  is  your 
superior.  If  you  will  hold  to  these  rules,  Mr.  Mallock 
will  not  trouble  you  much  or  often;  any  way,  these 
three  will  do  for  a  beginning.  It  is  'with  God,  for 
man,  in  heaven,'  as  the  padre  used  to  say." 

"  Yes,"  said  the  other,  "  and  that  is  a  good  gospel, 
as  indeed  you  taught  me  that  April  night  when  you 
sent  me  into  exile  so  unceremoniously.  That  was 
very  good  practice,  Morton.  Sagen  treu,  my  dear 
fellow,  I  feel  much  more  at  home  at  Tenterdon  to-day 
than  I  do  here.  I  feel  as  if  I  were  detached  on  duty 
here,  but  I  am  pulling  at  my  roots,  which  are  there. 
Yet  I  had  never  seen  the  place,  and  hardly  heard  of 
it,  two  months  ago." 

" Precisely,"  said  Morton.  "You  are  beginning  to 
take  on  that  healthy  tone  of  an  Englishman  who,  in 


MR.   TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  169 

the  midst  of  his  triumph  in  Parliament,  when  he  com- 
pels the  opposition  to  cheer  —  as  old  Hayes  used  to 
say  —  or,  in  his  grand  reception  at  the  Duke  of 
Rigmarole's,  is  still  sighing  for  his  salmon  river 
or  his  stalking-grouud.  You  do  not  suppose  that 
man  cares  much  for  salmon  or  for  deer,  do  you  ? 
What  he  wants  is  a  touch  of  Nature,  Nature  with  a 
large  N." 

"You  knew  poor  dear  Grace  better  than  I  did," 
said  Tangier.  "  Had  he  this  on  his  mind  when  he 
wrote  that  letter  on  which  I  made  his  will  ?  " 

"  Certainly ;  that  was  what  it  came  to,  or,  if  you 
please,  came  from,''  said  the  other,  stepping  forward 
now  and  taking  up  the  oars.  "  Not  that  you  would 
ever  have  put  him  on  gentleman  farming.  He  laughed 
it  to  scorn.  '  Not  I,'  he  would  say ;  '  I  built  all  the 
"  stun-wall  "  I  shall  build  before  I  was  sixteen,'  But 
he  loved  home.  He  loved  the  old  oaken  bucket.  He 
liked  to  have  those  people  at  his  home.  One  of  the 
little  boys  there  sent  him  down,  one  year,  a  salt-box 
full  of  shagbarks,  cracked  and  picked,  for  a  New 
Year's  present,  and  Grace  never  forgot  it.  Why,  he 
was  as  careful  in  his  orders  for  maple  sugar  and  syrup 
from  those  Steuben's  Ford  hills  as  he  was  in  his  cor- 
respondence with  Hope  or  Barings.  And  this  was 
not  the  mere  sentiment  of  boyish  memory.  It  was 
the  clear,  sheer  love  of  the  blue  above  and  the  green 
below ;  of  the  smell  of  the  earth.  Well,  he  loved  to 
eat  his  peas  one  hour  from  the  vine,  and  his  corn  one 
hour  from  the  stalk.  Why,  the  last  time  I  had  Grace 
in  this  boat — it  was  last  October — I  had  covered  him 
all  up  with  rugs,  where  you  lie  there,  and  this  man  of 
millions  was  talking  to  me  about  some  ground-nuts 


170  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

that  he  and  Mrs.  Milnes  had  found  as  they  were  driv- 
ing up  there,  and  how  he  had  dug  them  out  of  the 
sand  with  a  paper-cutter  and  a  pair  of  scissors,  and 
how  they  carried  them  home  and  roasted  them  on 
the  hearth.  I  could  almost  hear  the  great,  liveried 
Thomas  cursing  and  swearing,  as  he  sat  on  the  box 
and  held  the  horses,  while  the  'old  man/  as  Jie 
would  have  said,  was  digging  up  ground-nuts  with  a 
paper-cutter." 

"  You  see  the  paper-cutter  was  all  his  advance  upon 
Massasoit,"  said  Mr.  Tangier,  laughingly. 

"As  to  that,  I  think  Massasoit  could  do  it  much 
better  than  Grace.  But  Grace  was  on  a  good  road  and 
was  coming  on  well." 

Three  hours  a  day  did  Mr.  Tangier  spend  in  the 
saddle,  or  on  the  bay  or  the  river,  thus,  or  in  a  ham- 
mock under  the  pine-trees.  It  was  not  that  he  was 
afraid  to  meet  Morton  unless  he  did  this.  It  was  that 
now  this  had  become  a  second  nature  to  him,  as  a 
cigar  is  to  one  man,  and  whiskey  to  another,  and 
coffee  to  another,  and  sleep  to  everybody.  It  was  a 
step  in  advance  in  his  moral,  mental,  and  spiritual 
make-up.  To  Miss  Remington  he  wrote,  in  "type- 
writer," alas  !  one  evening :  — 

"  I  note  what  you  say  about  the  fireplace.  I  do  not 
want  to  seem  absurd.  But  really  a  large  fireplace  — 
a  very  large  one  indeed  —  means  generous  hospi- 
tality; as  a  hole  for  a  stove-funnel,  on  the  other 
hand,  means  parsimony  and  a  lonely  cabin.  Do  not 
block  my  wheels,  therefore.  Scott  Meakin  makes 
trouble  enough  about  it.  But  I  am  trying  to  send 
him  over  to  Oliver,  to  see  a  magnificent  fireplace  by 
Van  Brunt  or  Ware,  or  both,  in  their  guild-hall  there. 


MJt.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  171 

I  envy  you  your  power  of  flying  on  a  hay-cart.  For 
me,  the  best  I  do  is  to  ride  to  the  beach  on  Fear  Not 
or  float  down  the  tide  in  the  doctor's  boat  and  count 
the  days  until  the  14th  of  July.  But  it  is  clear 
enough  that  Scott  Meakin  will  not  be  ready  for  us 
before  the  1st  of  August." 


BOOK  II. 


CHAPTER  I. 

IT  was  nearly  two  months,  as  it  proved,  before  Mr. 
Tangier  saw  Tenterdon  again.  He  said  himself 
that  he  had  to  pay  for  his  spring  holiday  by  summer 
work.  But  he  had  now  well  learned  Mr.  Webster's 
maxim  thafa  man  can  do  more  work  in  eight  months 
than  he  can  in  twelve.  He  had  three  short  notes  from 
Scott  Meakin,  long,  rambling  letters  from  Mrs.  Dun- 
ster,  and  notes  or  dissertations,  as  the  case  required, 
always  amusing  and  to  the  point,  from  May  Reming- 
ton, to  whose  care  he  often  intrusted  some  private 
commission. 

At  last,  the  complicated  accounts  in  "  Chisholm  vs. 
Chantry  "  were  referred  to  a  master.  This  means,  that 
in  a  transaction  where  everybody  is  so  perplexed  that 
no  one  can  make  head  or  tail  of  anything,  one  compe- 
tent man,  who  has  never  heard  of  the  matter  before, 
is  told  to  take  it  off  by  himself,  disentangle  the  knots, 
and  tell  everybody  what  The  Truth  is.  It  takes  some 
time  for  him  to  find  out ;  and  so  when  a  thing  is  referred 
to  a  master,  everybody  else  engaged  has  a  holiday. 
Besides  this,  it  happened  that  the  most  important  judge 
who  was  sitting  in  Chambers  received  a  telegraphic 
message  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  asking 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  173 

him  to  go  off  on  a  Government  excursion  in  the  "  Tala- 
poosa."  He  left  Chambers,  between  night  and  morn- 
ing, with  a  message  for  some  chief  clerk  to  everybody 
that  all  cases  would  be  resumed  in  November.  Mr. 
Heeren  himself  held  a  less  firm  hand  on  the  move- 
ments of  his  chief,  and  so  it  was  that,  on  the  evening 
of  the  31st  of  July,  Mr.  Tangier  alighted  from  the  ex- 
press train  at  Wentworth  Junction,  and  wondered  to 
think  how  different  was  his  feeling,  when  Wentworth 
Junction  was  so  new  to  him  only  the  May  before. 
Nathan  was  waiting,  as  he  was  then.  But  this  time 
the  meeting  was  of  two  old  friends,  and  Mr.  Tangier 
received,  well  pleased,  Nathan's  information  as  to  how 
things  wetit  on.  As  they  turned  towards  the  sea, 
though  it  was  five  miles  away,  the  refreshment  after 
the  dead,  hot  air  of  the  train  brought  a  new  life. 
Mr.  Tangier  wondered  at  himself  that  he  had  kept 
away  so  long.  And  he  wondered  what  spell  was  on 
the  so-called  civilization  of  the  century,  that  the  new 
and  abundant  life,  which  came  to  him  in  such  a  tide 
of  delight,  should  be  counted  as  the  exception,  and 
that  the  deaf  and  dumb,  nerveless  and  heartless, 
drudgery  of  three  or  four  weeks  past  should  be 
counted  as  the  expected  daily  course  of  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  people,  in  those  cities  which  this  same 
civilization  affects  to  call  its  centres. 

But  Nathan,  and  the  sea  breezes,  and  the  golden 
lilies,  and  the  blazing  cardinals,  and  the  tufts  of 
clematis,  with  now  and  then  a  frightened  squirrel 
or  rabbit,  now  and  then  a  sniff  of  perfume  from  an 
azalea,  now  and  then  a  flight  of  swallows  flying  over 
the  ponds  they  passed,  —  these  and  a  world  of  other 
interruptions  broke  up  much  meditation  on  social 


174  MR.   TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

science,  or  the  hitches  in  social  economy,  to  the  un- 
doubted satisfaction  of  this  reader  and  the  equal  satis- 
faction of  this  writer.  Nathan  was  only  too  glad  to 
show  to  advantage  the  speed  of  the  new  horse,  which 
Mrs.  Fairbanks  had  been  compelled  to  add  to  her  es- 
tablishment; and  when  they  arrived  in  the  yard  by 
the  old  Sea  King's  house,  over  which  she  presided, 
there  was  still  light  enough  for  a  joyous  company  to 
welcome  Mr.  Tangier. 

Another  company  of  "  boarders,"  who  had  arrived 
since  he  left,  hung  back,  because  they  were  later 
comers,  as  a  sort  of  plebeian  and  unworthy  circle. 
Mrs.  Floxam,  who  had  all  day  explained  that  he 
certainly  would  not  come,  and  that  it  was  Absurd  to 
expect  him,  hovered,  pendulum-like,  between  the  two. 

Mr.  Tangier's  luggage  was  disposed  of ;  a  mysteri- 
ous parcel,  which  really  contained  rockets  and  Bengal- 
lights,  was  put  under  lock  and  key  in  the  closet  under 
the  stairs,  and  he  himself  had  finished  the  tenth 
course  in  a  very  high  tea,  which  Mrs.  Fairbanks  and 
Rachel  had  provided,  in  utter  contempt  of  Mrs. 
Floxam's  forebodings.  He  was  doubting,  himself, 
whether  he  would  attack,  in  a  friendly  way,  the 
group  of  new-comers,  and  so  pass  his  initiation  and 
theirs,  when  a  noisy  clamor  in  the  hall  announced 
Mrs.  Dunster,  Mr.  Burdett,  the  doctor,  and  May 
Eemington.  They  had  come  down,  they  said,  for 
an  early  conference,  there  was  so  much  to  be  done 
before  to-morrow  evening. 

To-morrow  evening  was  to  witness  the  dedication 
of  the  old  stage-house  to  its  new  purposes. 

"Dear  Mr.  Tangier,  all  is  ready,  though  no  fatlings 
are  killed,  because  we  had  none  to  kill  at  this  season 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  175 

of  the  year ;  all  the  people  are  asked ;  every  man  and 
woman  and  man-child  and  girl-baby  within  what  you 
call  a  radius  of  five  miles.  And  yet  the  place  has  no 
name,  more  than  a  poor  unbaptized  baby  of  ten  min- 
utes old.  What  is  worse,  its  godfather  has  forgotten 
it  in  '  Chisholm  vs.  Chantry.'  I  hate  them  both,  and  I 
hope  the  court  will  turn  them  both  out-of-doors.  And 
what  are  we  to  do  when  all  the  people  come  ?  I  do 
not  know  'no  more  nor  the  dead,'  as  your  friend 
Sabriny  Wotch  would  say.  And  so  we  have  come, 
before  you  went  to  bed,  to  tell  you  that  all  will  go  to 
shame  and  ruin  unless  you  come  to  the  rescue.  Why, 
if  you  put  Nathan  in  charge  of  the  Channel  Fleet,  he 
would  know  more  what  to  do  with  it  than  we  know 
what  we  are  to  do  with  our  party." 

This  was  Mrs.  Dunster's  somewhat  eager  harangue, 
as  she  and  the  rest  arranged  themselves  around  Mr. 
Tangier,  who  was  still  playing  with  a  few  blackberries 
which  remained  of  his  slow  and  long-drawn  supper. 

"  To  begin  at  the  end,"  said  he,  "  the  Channel  Fleet 
might  be  in  worse  hands  than  Nathan's,  if  he  handles 
an  iron-clad  as  well  as  he  does  a  pink-stern  schooner. 
Dear  Mrs.  Dunster,  have  you  and  I  lived  to  mature 
years,  and  do  we  not  know  that  some  things  go  better 
for  not  being  managed  ?  " 

"  Exactly  what  I  tell  her,"  said  May  Remington. 

"You!"  said  Mrs.  Dunster,  with  scorn.  "You!  I 
should  think  so  !  Do  I  not  remember  when  you  and 
Peg  sold  theatre  tickets  to  all  the  children  at  school, 
two  for  a  cent,  performance  to  be  in  your  father's- 
barn,  at  two  in  the  afternoon ;  and  when  the  poor 
things  began  to  arrive,  your  poor,  dear  mother  heard 
of  the  play  for  the  first  time,  and  found  that  no  prepa- 


176  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

ration  whatever  was  made  for  it,  not  a  name,  not  a 
plot,  not  an  actor,  not  so  much  as  a  curtain !  You, 
indeed ! " 

"Precisely," said  May  Eemington,  unabashed,  though 
all  the  others  were  laughing  at  her.  "  And  did  they 
not  all  have  their  money's  worth  and  much  more  ? 
It  was  the  first  time  I  ever  saw  your  celebrated  per- 
formance of  the  '  Pilgrims  of  the  Tioga  Canal-boat ; ' 
and,  dear  Aunt  Mary,  if  you  will  only  do  that  to- 
morrow night  the  fame  and  the  success  of  the  Palace 
of  Delight  will  be  secure." 

"  But  is  it  to  be  the  Palace  of  Delight,  or  what  is 
to  be,  Mr.  Tangier  ?  " 

"Why  do  you  all  ask  me?"  said  he,  folding  his 
napkin  slowly,  and  then  leading  the  way  to  the  west- 
ern stoop,  which  was  recognized  as  in  some  sort  be- 
longing to  him.  "  I  am  only  an  accidental  wayfarer, 
who  happens  in  on  the  festivities." 

"  Oh,  yes ;  as  Jack  the  Giant-Killer  happened  in  on 
the  festivities  of  Blunderbore.  But  I  do  not  know 
what  would  have  come  to  the  lads  and  ladies  in  the 
prison,  if  Jack  had  not  come  along." 

"  Prison !  who  is  in  the  prison  ?  "  said  he. 

"  How  dreadfully  literal  you  are,  Mr.  Tangier  !  You 
are  as  bad  as  you  were  in  the  spring.  I  hoped  your 
Mr.  Heeren,  and  your  judges  and  juries,  would  have 
taught  you  something.  You  are  here  to  answer  all 
Scott  Meakin's  questions,  all  Mr.  Burdett's  doubts,  to 
solve  all  Mr.  Drummond's  difficulties,  to  oppose  all  Mrs. 
Floxain's  contradictions,  and  first,  second,  third,  and 
seventeenth,  you  are  here  to  give  a  name  to  the  old 
stage-house.  This  name,  —  it  shall  be  emblazoned  on 
red  cambric  in  white  letters  cut  out  of  Lowell  shirt- 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  177 

ing  by  these  hands,  if  only  you  will  say  what  it 
shall  be." 

"  I  thought  we  settled  it  all  that  day  you  sat  on  the 
tool-box.  What  do  you  vote  for,  Mrs.  Dunster  ?  "  said  he. 

"  Oh,  I  am  firm.  There  is  to  be  a  Woman's  Guild 
formed.  The  place  shall  be  called  Guild  Hall." 

"  And  you,  Mr.  Burdett  ?  " 

"  I  cannot  answer  as  boldly  as  Mrs.  Dunster.  But 
I  tell  her  to  revive  an  old  name." 

"I  declare,  he  is  going  to  call  it  the  Synagogue," 
said  May  Kemington,  affecting  to  whisper. 

"  Oh,  no,  not  that !  I  want  to  recall  an  old  name,  as 
we  restore  an  old  thing.  Call  it '  The  Nooning  House.' " 

"  And  you,  Miss  Kemington  ?  " 

"  I  am  first,  second,  and  last  for  '  The  Palace  of 
Delight.'  I  have  changed  my  mind  ever  since  you 
made  me  read  Mr.  Besant's  story." 

"And  you,  doctor,  you  say  nothing,  but  you  keep 
up  a  deal  of  a  thinking." 

"  Like  an  owl,  as  I  am.  I  am  not  quite  satisfied, 
but  I  say, '  The  Club  House,'  or  <  The  People's  Club.' " 

"Have  all  voted  ?•"  cried  Mr.  Tangier.  "  Have  any 
changed  their  minds  ?  Are  any  more  remarks  to  be 
made  on  this  subject  ?  Going  once !  Going  twice  ! 
Going  three  times  !  Gone !  The  name  is  to  be  <  The 
Old  Stage-house.'  Let  the  Knights  Templars  call  it 
a  Temple ;  let  the  Masons  call  it  a  Lodge  House  or  a 
Chapter  House ;  let  the  ladies  call  it  Guild  Hall ;  let 
Mr.  Biirdett  call  it  a  Nooning  House.  But  the  people 
will  call  it  The  Old  Stage-house,  and  for  The  Old 
Stage-house  I  shall  vote  every  time. 

"At  all  events,  that  subject  is  off  to-night's  pro- 
gramme. Now  for  the  order  of  ceremonies." 

12 


178  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER  II. 

OF  all  these  devisings  and  conspiracies  the  result 
appeared  the  next  day,  and  May  Eemington's 
reckless  forecasts  were  largely  justified.     "Trust  in 
that  Providence,"    she  said,   "which  takes  care    of 
drunkards,  idiots,  and  the  United  States." 

And  Mr.  Burdett  told  her,  to  her  great  joy,  that  there 
were  philosophers  who  thought  that  the  fall  of  man 
followed  fast  on  the  introduction  by  Adam  and  Eve 
of  an  analytic  philosophy.  Before  that,  they  had 
faith  in  the  right  outcome  of  all  that  was  well  meant. 
May  Remington  was  delighted  to  find  that  any  phi- 
losopher would  have  one  kind  word  for  her.  Without 
philosophy,  what  had  been  done  was  this  :  Six  or  eight 
young  men,  well  known  and  generally  liked,  had  been 
selected  by  Drummond  and  other  Templars,  and  had 
been  despatched,  some  days  before,  on  every  road. 
They  had  gone  literally  to  every  house,  and  they  had 
carried  to  each  house  a  printed  card  of  invitation, 
which  read  thus  :  — 

HOUSE-WARMING. 

You  are  invited,  with  all  the  members  of  your  family, 
and  any  friends  visiting  you,  to  be  present  at  the  opening 
of  the  OLD  STAGE-HOUSE,  on  the  Knox  Road,  on  Tuesday 
next. 

Children  from  two  to  five.  Adults  of  both  sexes  from  two 
to  nine  o'clock. 

By  invitation  of  the  committee. 


MR.  TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  179 

"The  wording  is  clumsy,"  said  Dr.  Tillinghast. 
"But  it  was  the  young  men's  own,  and  I  was  not 
going  to  lose  caste  with  them  by  fiddling  over  gram- 
mar or  rhetoric."  And  Mr.  Tangier  heartily  approved 
of  his  catholicity. 

"  My  only  fear,"  said  he,  "  is  for  the  three  hours  of 
the  children." 

"  Ah,  me ! "  said  May  Remington.  "  I  wish  I  was 
as  sure  of  the  grown  people  as  I  am  of  the  children. 
Children  do  not  stand  on  ceremony.  Do  you  wait, 
Mr.  Tangier,  till  you  see  six  solid  old  women  and  two 
old  men  glued  down  upon  your  settees  in  the  reception- 
room,  and  with  mere  looks  of  iron,  saying  silently  to 
all  comers,  '  Entertain  me,  entertain  me !  I  am  here 
to  be  entertained.  Why  don't  you  entertain  me  ? '" 

"  As  to  that,"  said  he,  good-naturedly  enough,  "  they 
deceive  themselves  if  they  think  I  am  going  to  en- 
tertain them.  I  shall  sit  in  the  smoking-room  and 
read  the  '  Tribune,'  if  by  good  luck  a  paternal  post-office 
brings  it  to  me.  I  am  not  going  to  entertain  any  one." 

"Not  me?"  said  she,  and  she  dropped  a  mock 
courtesy.  "After  I  have  made  my  fingers  bleed  by 
basting  on  the  sixteen  letters,  in  'The  Old  Stage-house,' 
upon  the  elegant  magenta  background,  am  I  not  to  be 
entertained  ?  " 

"  I  think  you  will  have  to  do  the  entertaining,"  said 
he.  "  I  shall  ask  permission  to  smoke,  and  shall  hope 
for  the  second  chance  at  the  '  Tribune.' " 

All  the  chief  conspirators  appeared  at  the  stage- 
house  early  in  the  day.  Drummond  and  his  friends 
were  driving  up  large  wagons  and  small,  now  with 
furniture,  now  with  provisions  for  the  inevitable  ban- 
quet, now  with  flowers.  Scott  Meakin  and  his  rnos* 


180  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

trusty  men  were  everywhere,  closing  rivets  up,  obey- 
ing the  bidding  of  the  womenkind,  now  on  the  tops 
of  "  steps,"  now  deep  in  the  cellar.  Few  of  the  leaders 
of  society,  in  one  or  another  of  its  sub-tribes,  sub-clans, 
or  sub-castes,  but  were  on  duty,  leading  as  occasion 
required.  Mr.  Tangier  compelled  Scott  Meakin  to 
take  time  to  be  praised,  and  John  Michael,  the  painter 
and  glazier,  who  preached,  and  preached  very  well,  to 
the  Seventh-day  people,  to  receive  his  share  of  con- 
gratulation also. 

"Well,"  said  Scott  Meakin,  "it  was  a  queer  job,  any 
way.  You  know,  Mr.  Tangier,  I  said  to  you  that 
you  never  knew  where  you  would  come  out  when 
you  began  on  an  old  hulk  like  this." 

"Yes,"  said  Tangier,  "and  I  took  courage  when 
you  were  willing  to  go  on." 

"Well,  to  tell  you  the  truth,  Mr.  Tangier,  the 
frame  is  better  than  I  told  you.  I  found,  when  we 
uncovered  it,  it  was  one  of  old  Gray's  frames.  They 
still  told  stories  of  him  when  I  learned  my  trade. 
He  drank  like  a  horse,  and  he.died  in  the  poor-house. 
But  he  knew  good  work  from  bad.  He  knew  a  good 
stick  of  timber.  And  in  those  days  he  had  oak  for 
the  cutting.  Yes,  Mr.  Tangier,  you  had  only  to  strip 
the  clapboards  from  this  house  to  see  it  was  built  on 
honor." 

"Do  you  say  that?"  said  Tangier,  well  pleased. 
"  Miss  Eemington,  come  here.  Hear  what  Mr.  Mea- 
kin says.  You  must  give  us  a  motto  to  hang  in  the 
great  room.  Mr.  Meakin  says  this  house  was  'Built 
on  Honor/" 

"  You  are  not  going  off,  Mr.  Tangier  ?  "  said  young 
Drumrnond  to  him,  as  he  was  leaving  for  his  lunch. 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  181 

Mr.  Tangier  said  he  was,  that  he  should  have  some 
lunch  at  home,  and  come  back  again  with  the  Fair- 
banks party. 

"That  will  not  do,"  said  Drummond.  "What  is 
the  house  for  but  a  club-house  ?  Stay  with  the  boys, 
try  our  coffee,  and  learn  how  we  fishermen  make  a 
chowder." 

And  Mr.  Tangier  stayed,  well  pleased  that  "the 
boys"  were  not  afraid  of  him. 

There  was  the  usual  hush  and  dread  for  five  min- 
utes of  terror,  lest,  after  all  the  preparations,  no 
one  should  come  to  the  party.  "I  call  it  'silence 
in  heaven,'"  said  May  Kemington,  who  was,  how- 
ever, awed  by  this  terror  which  always  comes  over 
people  who  have  invited  others ;  and  she  only  affected 
to  feel  at  ease. 

Then  came  the  inevitable  first  drops  of  shower; 
the  people  came,  who  had  least  to  do  with  each  other, 
and  were  utterly  unable  to  talk  with  each  other, — 
as  when  Mr.  Rostock,  the  saw-mill  man,  arrived  on 
foot  with  his  work-house  boy,  just  as  Madame  Gun- 
nison,  from  the  house  on  the  hill,  was  being  lifted 
by  her  footman  from  her  victoria. 

But  the  doubts  of  such  a  beginning  were  forgotten 
in  ten  minutes,  when  the  whole  tide  of  people  poured 
in,  when  the  young  Templars  and  every  sort  of  com- 
mittee of  reception  were  engaged  in  every  sort  of 
way,  when  all  the  visitors  were  rambling  over  the 
house  to  see  what  were  its  arrangements,  and  the 
prospects  of  future  "good  times."  The  boys  soon 
found  the  provision  of  mask  and  balls  and  bats, 
which  had  been  made  by  Mr.  Tangier's  prescience, 
and  two  impromptu  nines  were  organized  on  the 


182  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

green  behind  the  house.  In  the  large  room,  which 
had  already  been  called  the  "music-room,"  because 
there  the  piano  from  the  Gingerly s'  had  been  placed, 
a  great  multitude  of  little  children  were  assembled. 
Rachel  Fairbanks  was  playing  marches  for  them,  and 
Miss  Gurtry  moving  them  to  and  fro,  as  a  little  or- 
ganized army,  in  pretty  movements  such  as  modern 
schools  understand,  and  now  and  then  was  holding 
them  at  "parade  rest,"  while  she  told  them  a  story. 
The  story  invariably  required  from  them  much  clap- 
ping of  hands  in  chorus,  answering  of  questions,  and 
singing  in  refrain. 

Miss  Gurtry  forgot  herself  entirely,  as  she  magnet- 
ized and  swayed  the  children,  and  in  her  abandonment 
was  perfectly  charming. 

It  need  not  be  said  that  the  sound  of  the  music  and 
the  screams  of  laughter  from  the  children  drew  most 
of  the  older  people  to  this  hall,  and  they  stood  round 
the  sides,  or  sat  in  the  deep  window-seats,  watching 
the  movements. 

"  She  is  absolutely  lovely,"  said  May  Eemington  to 
Mrs.  Dunster.  "  And  that  is  what  they  try  to  teach 
in  Normal  schools !  They  might  as  well  try  to  teach 
me  to  sing  the  songs  of  seraphs  !  I  lost  my  heart  to 
her  again  and  again  at  the  sewing  circle  and  at  the 
picnics.  And  she  has  not  the  faintest  idea  of  my 
passion  for  her.  But  here  and  now  I  have  lost  it  for 
good  and  all.  I  shall  tell  her  so ;  I  shall  go  on  my  j 
knees  to  her  like  Charles  Grandison.  Eeally,  dear 
Aunt  Mary,  I  do  not  see  why  some  of  these  hulk- 
ing men  do  not  go  up  to  her  and  say :  '  Let  me  take 
you  in  my  arms  and  pet  you  and  take  care  of  you  and 
keep  you  out  of  scrapes  and  out  of  trouble  for  all  the 


MR    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  183 

rest  of  your  life.'  That  is  my  notion  of  proposing  to 
such  a  girl  as  that." 

As  she  ran  on,  Miss  May  did  not  observe  that  Mr. 
Tangier  had  joined  them,  and  was  but  just  behind 
her.  She  turned  in  her  enthusiasm  just  in  time 
to  catch  his  amused  smile.  But  she  was  not  con- 
fused. "  I  hope  you  heard  what  I  said,  Mr.  Tangier. 
I  can't  make  you  read  novels,  but  I  beg  you  to 
see  that  I  read  them  myself  to  some  purpose.  Be 
assured  that  when  there  is  as  charming  a  person 
as  that  in  this  world,  that  is  the  way  in  which  she 
should  be  spoken  to." 

Mrs.  Dunster,  who  had  the  far-reaching  prevision 
of  a  chaperon  and  of  an  aunt  combined,  looked  rather 
critically  upon  Mr.  Tangier  as  he  answered. 

He  was  not  thrown  off  his  guard.  He  was  quite 
too  much  a  man  of  the  courts  and  of  the  world. 

"Dear  Miss  May,"  he  said,  "have  not  you  and  I 
done  our  very  worst  or  our  very  best  in  intermeddling 
with  Miss  Gurtry's  affairs  ?  Did  we  not  leave  her 
and  Mr.  Drummond  together  for  two  hours  that  day 
here  ?  Did  I  not,  under  your  instructions,  send  him 
on  an  errand  to  the  school-house  about  mottoes  or 
something  ?  " 

She  interrupted  him.  "  My  instructions !  Never ! 
Do  not  charge  your  blunders  upon  me." 

"Some  one  instructed  me,  and  I  had  never  heard 
of  the  mottoes  before.  I  am  sure  that  when  I  saw 
him  on  a  chair,  nailing  them  up,  and  Miss  Gurtry 
handing  them  to  him,  I  discreetly  withdrew,  and 
never  once  in  my  inmost  heart  did  I  say,  'This  is 
my  work.'  Meekly  and  honestly  I  said,  '  It  is  Miss 
Kemington's  success.' " 


184  MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS. 

"  Very  fine,"  said  she,  laughing,  as,  indeed,  she  -was 
apt  to  do.  "  Very  fine,  indeed.  And  pray,  where  is 
Mr.  Drummond  now  ?  " 

"  Do  you  really  expect  to  see  him  next  to  Master 
Sam  Pingree  and  leading  Lucy  Campbell  ?  Do  you 
wish  to  have  him  clapping  his  hands  in  time,  or  sing' 
ing  treble  in  the  chorus  ?  When  I  last  saw  Mr. 
Drummond,  he  was  peeping  through  the  crack  of  the 
orchestra  door  in  the  gallery  yonder.  I  think,  if  you 
like  to  speak  to  him,  you  will  find  him  there  now." 

"Keally,  is  it  so,  Mr.  Tangier?  You  are  not 
making  fun?" 

The  girl  seemed  more  serious  than  her  wont,  and 
much  more  serious  than  he  saw  any  occasion  for  her 
being.  She  looked  up  at  the  door,  which  was  indeed 
ajar,  and  of  course  gave  no  token  of  any  espionage  on 
the  other  side. 

"  If  you  are  drawing  a  long  bow,  Mr.  Tangier,  you 
draw  it  very  well,"  she  said,  after  her  survey. 

"  Why  am  I  accused  of  drawing  a  long  bow  ?  "  said 
he,  with  an  air  of  injured  innocence.  "Was  the  ro- 
mance one  of  my  making?  Mrs.  Dunster,  I  appeal 
to  you.  Was  I  not  on  your  own  piazza  charged  with 
dulness,  because  I  did  not  see  the  beginnings  of  it  ? 
Have  I  not  been  lured,  or  let  me  rather  say  driven, 
at  every  point,  to  assist  in  an  affair  which  was  no 
business  of  mine?" 

Again  Mrs.  Dunster  looked  at  him  with  that  doubt- 
ful glance  of  an  aunt  and  a  duenna.  But  May  Rem- 
ington did  not  notice  this,  and  it  may  be  doubted  if 
he  did. 

"  Let  that  be  as  it  may,"  said  she,  as  if  tired  of  the 
play  which  she  had  herself  started,  "it  is,  as  Mr. 


MR.   TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  185 

Knightly  says  in  'Emma,'  very  unworthy  business 
for  a  well-educated  young  woman  like  me,  and  I  will 
have  none  of  it,  whether  I  began  it  or  no.  Aunt 
Mary,  come  with  me  and  let  me  show  you  the  clever 
plan  which  takes  off  the  smell  from  the  range  in  the 
kitchen.  Eeally  I  do  not  see  why  we  should  not  have 
it  at  home." 

She  did  not  ask  Mr.  Tangier,  but,  as  if  of  course,  he 
joined  them. 

And  thus,  with  groups  of  people  who  really  found 
each  other  out  in  a  truly  cordial  way,  the  old  stage- 
house  dedicated  itself  in  all  its  various  capacities. 
There  were  even  people  who  played  dominos  and 
chess.  There  were  girls  who  played  with  graces,  as 
there  were  boys  who  played  with  bats  and  balls. 
When  the  little  children  were  feasting,  there  was 
even  dancing  in  the  music-room.  For  at  first  some 
of  the  girls  waltzed  together ;  and  then,  under  a  good 
deal  of  persuasion,  and  with  a  good  deal  of  sheepish- 
ness,  Eli  Whaley  was  made  to  dance  a  regular  sailor's 
hornpipe  to  Rachel  Fairbanks's  very  spirited  music. 

At  six,  supper  was  served  for  all  the  grown  people, 
as  some  meal  unnamed  had  been  served  for  the  chil- 
dren at  four.  And  at  eight  in  the  evening,  after 
the  rooms  had  been  lighted  up,  Mr.  Burdett  and  the 
other  ministers  and  Dr.  Tillinghast  made  each  the 
inevitable  "  few  remarks  "  of  such  an  occasion.  They 
congratulated  the  town  that  it  had,  almost  sponta- 
neously, secured  such  a  place,  so  long  needed  for  its 
sociabilities  and  its  hospitalities,  and  amid  great 
applause  old  Squire  Kenison  pronounced  the  "old 
stage-house  open  for  every  purpose  of  good-fellowship 
and  a  reasonable  hospitality." 


186  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

The  different  groups  of  people  looked  round  a  little 
uncertainly,  as  if  doubting  what  was  to  come  next, 
when,  "  S-h-i-r-r,"  a  brilliant  rocket  blazed  up  from  the 
farther  end  of  the  ball-ground.  The  sound  and  the 
flash  summoned  all  parties  to  the  piazza,  and  in  a 
minute  more  another  "S-h-i-r-r"  delighted  them  all, 
and  they  showed  their  approval  of  the  unexpected 
spectacle. 

From  the  open  window  where  she  stood,  Mr.  Drum- 
mond  withdrew  Miss  Gurtry,  and  asked  if  he  might 
have  a  word  with  her. 

"Why,  of  course!"  she  said,  \itterly  unconscious 
that  he  spoke  with  a  high-strained  eagerness. 

"  If  you  really  do  not  care  to  see  them,  though  they 
are  so  beautiful,"  he  said,  apologizing,  as  he  led  her 
away  into  one  of  the  front  reception-rooms,  where 
they  were  away  from  all  the  rest  and  would  be  quite 
alone. 

"  Oh,  no  !  but  was  it  not  a  nice  thought  of  his  ?  I 
suppose  it  is  Mr.  Tangier." 

"  I  suppose  it  is,"  said  Drummond,  trying  not  to  be 
annoyed.  But  he  was  in  that  nervous  mood  in  which 
he  hated  to  hear  the  woman  he  loved  even  allude  to 
any  other  man.  "He  is  one  of  those  lucky  people 
who  can  do  all  he  chooses  and  have  all  he  wants." 
Miss  Gurtry  was  amazed  at  the  cynical  tone  in  which 
he  spoke,  which  was,  indeed,  wholly  unlike  his  natural 
manner.  It  gave  her  the  first  hint  that  she  had  been 
called  here  for  anything  but  some  conference  about 
the  evening's  entertainment.  He  went  on  at  once. 
He  went  on,  as  if  hurried  and  worried,  eager  and 
awkward,  but  direct  enough,  to  say,  "  I  do  not  want 
to  talk  about  him  nor  anybody  —  yes,  I  do — I  want 


MR.   TANGIER'S  VACATIONS.  187 

to  talk  about  myself  and  about  you.  You  know, 
dear  Miss  Bess,"  —  he  had  never  called  her  so  aloud 
before,  but  he  would  once  if  he  died,  —  "you  know 
I  must  go  to  New  York  to-morrow.  I  cannot  be 
here  again  till  September.  I  will  not  go,  I  dare  not 
go,  till  I  tell  you  what  you  know  perfectly  well,  that 
I  love  you  with  all  my  heart  and  soul,  and  I  want 
you  to  say  I  may.  Do  say  so,  somehow,  or  try  to  say 
so.  Oh,  if  you  knew ! "  And  the  fine  fellow  took  her 
hand  boldly,  as  it  lay  in  her  lap,  as  if  indeed,  as 
May  Kemington  had  suggested,  he  would  gladly  have 
taken  her  in  his  arms  and  carried  her  to  the  end  of 
the  world. 

He  looked  her  full  in  the  face,  and,  in  all  his  doubt, 
he  fancied  that  for  an  instant  a  flash  of  exquisite 
pleasure  lighted  her  eyes.  But  he  was  too  bold  in  the 
fancy,  for  she  withdrew  her  hand,  after  an  instant,  if 
indeed  there  were  an  instant,  to  say  with  a  tone  of 
utter  agony :  — 

"  Ob,  George  Drummond,  what  do  you  say  ?  what 
have  I  done  ? "  And  the  look  on  her  face  was  of 
undoubted,  unutterable  anguish. 

Yet  to  him,  aghast  as  he  was  in  the  suddenness 
and  almost  bitterness  of  her  answer,  there  came  the 
strange  question,  "  How  did  she  know  my  name  was 
George  ?  "  For  he  knew  she  had  never  called  him  so 
before. 

For  half  a  minute  neither  of  them  said  anything. 
He  looked  at  her,  but  she  looked  at  her  hands,  and 
dared  not  lift  her  eyes  to  him.  He  was  the  first,  of 
course,  to  speak. 

"  What  do  you  say  ?  Why,  what  is  it  ?  I  knew  you 
would  say  it.  I  knew  it  perfectly  well.  I  said  you 


188  MR.     TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

would  say  it ;  and  yet,  —  oh,  my  dear  Miss  Gurtry,  if 
you  knew  what  my  dreams  have  been  —  " 

"  Oh,  do  not  say  that !  Because  —  then — you  blame 
me.  I  must  have  been  to  blame.  But  if,  —  oh,  my 
dear  Mr.  Drummond,  I  was  so  lonely.  And  when  you 
were  so  kind  to  me  I  could  not,  —  indeed,  I  am  so 
wretched,  —  I  could  not  tell  you  not  to  be." 

"  Not  to  be !  why  should  you  tell  me  not  to  be  ? 
Tell  me  to  be  kinder  to  you  than  ever  man  was  to 
woman,  or  woman  to  man,  and  see  if  I  do  not  obey 
you.  Oh,  Miss  Gurtry,  you  think  I  have  persecuted 
you!" 

"  No,  no ! "  she  gasped. 

"You  think  I  am  pressing  you.  But  you  do  not 
know  how  often  I  have  gone  by  the  school-house  for 
the  mere  pleasure  of  seeing  where  you  were.  No,  nor 
how  often  I  have  been  watching  you  when  you  did 
not  know  I  was  within  ten  miles.  Tell  me,  order  me 
to  be  kind  to  you.  I  am  so  ashamed  that  I  have 
frightened  you.  But  I  was  so  eager.  Let  me  write 
to  you  from  New  York  ?  But  there,  I  could  not  write 
what  I  can  say." 

"Oh,  Mr.  Drummond^"  the  girl  almost  groaned 
now,  "do  not,  do  not  say  another  word!  You  tor- 
ture me.  What  can  I  say  ?  I  am  so  sorry ;  I  must 
have  done  wrong,  or  you  would  not  be  here.  What 
you  ask  is  impossible.  Please  let  me  go,  and  do  not 
think  of  this  again." 

"That  is  impossible!"  said  Drummond ;  but  when 
she  looked  up  he  was  gone. 

And  she  ?  Poor  girl,  all  alone  now,  for  she  would 
not  call  one  of  her  faithful  school-boys  to  help  her, 
she  had  to  hun£  up  her  wraps  in  the  deserted  cloak- 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  189 

room.  It  seemed  mockery,  indeed,  that  this  wretched- 
ness was  the  end  of  the  dedication  of  the  Palace  of 
Delight  for  her.  She  could  hear  the  rush  of  the  rock- 
ets, and  the  clapping  of  hands,  while  she,  poor  girl, 
was  trying  to  make  out  whether  the  sandals  she  had 
in  her  hands  were  hers  or  Miss  Kemington's. 


190  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  last  fire-work  had  blazed  away,  the  last 
cheers  had  been  given,  and  every  one  was 
thronging  to  the  door  of  the  same  cloak-room,  but 
now  so  empty.  A  set  of  nice  boys  and  girls  were 
doing  their  best  to  pass  out  sandals  and  shawls  and 
cloaks  and  hats,  and  the  other  paraphernalia.  Other 
boys  and  men  brought  up  the  wagons  from  the  long 
sheds,  which  had  survived  from  the  old  stage-house 
days.  Mrs.  Fairbanks's  two  carry-alls  were  among 
the  rest,  and  Mrs.  Dunster's  one. 

"Mr.  Drummond,  will  you  find  Mr.  Tangier?  He 
is  to  drive  us  home.  And  he  has  no  other  carriage. 
But  we  are  all  ready,  and  he  is  lost." 

But  Mr.  Drummond  could  not  find  Mr.  Tangier. 
He  had  been  last  seen  with  the  fire-works,  and  Na- 
than thought  he  had  gone  in  to  bring  more.  But  now 
he  was  nowhere. 

Sabriny  Wotch  was  washing  dishes  still,  and  she 
sent  her  band  all  over  the  house  to  find  Mr.  Tangier. 
But  Mr.  Tangier  was  nowhere. 

"It  is  very  strange,"  said  Mrs.  Dunster.  "And, 
after  all  the  pains  he  has  taken,  it  seems  very  stupid 
to  leave  him  to  walk  home.  Perhaps  he  has  gone 
with  some  one." 

But,  as  she  spoke,  she  knew  that  May  Kemington 
was  at  her  side,  and  she  did  not  believe  that  there 


MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS.  191 

was  any  other  lady  to  whom  he  would  have  offered 
his  escort. 

"  May  I  ask  you  to  drive  us  home,  Mr.  Drummond  ? 
Tom  is  not  so  sure  on  his  fore-feet  as  I  wish  he  were." 

Of  course  Mr.  Drummond  would  drive.  Mrs.  Dun- 
ster  and  her  niece  and  Rachel  Fairbanks  filled  up  the 
carriage,  and  all  went  homeward,  chattering  of  the 
success  of  the  inauguration. 

"And  it  all  began  with  the  sidewalk,"  said  May 
Remington.  "  And  it  needed  Miss  Gurtry  to  show  us 
how  to  do  that.  Mr.  Drummond,  I  shall  always  say 
that  Miss  Gurtry  is  the  real  founder  of  the  Palace  of 
Delight.  You  men  could  talk,  but  Miss  Gurtry  did." 

Of  course  she  meant  to  say  the  thing  most  agreeable 
to  him  ;  in  truth  she  did  drive  a  dagger  into  his  heart. 
He  did,  however,  mumble  some  answer. 

"I  wanted  to  bring  her  home  with  us,"  said  Mrs. 
Dunster.  "  We  could  have  made  room  for  her.  But 
she  must  have  walked.  Look,  May ;  perhaps  you  can 
see  her  on  her  own  sidewalk  in  the  moonlight  as  we 
pass." 

All  parties  looked  out  on  the  left  as  they  crossed 
the  Wentworth  road,  up  which  Miss  Gurtry's  side- 
walk ran.  All  parties  saw,  not  her,  but  Mr.  Tangier, 
alone  on  the  sidewalk,  coming  toward  them. 

Had  Mr.  Tangier  walked  home  with  Miss  Gurtry  ? 
This  was  the  private  question  which  every  one  asked. 
Drummond  struck  the  horses  suddenly,  and  they  did 
not  stop  to  inquire. 


192  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

FKOM  this  point,  for  several  chapters,  this  little 
story  of  a  little  town  might  be  told  in  four 
different  ways,  according  as  the  incidents  which  con- 
cern our  readers  were  told  from  Mr.  Tangier's  point 
of  view,  from  Miss  Bessy  Gurtry's,  from  Mr.  Drum- 
mond's,  or  from  Miss  Remington's.  Most  stories  may 
be  told  in  many  ways,  as  Mr.  Browning's  poem  of 
"  The  King  and  the  Book  "  has  proved  so  well.  The 
counsel  for  the  prosecution  will  see  a  shield  of  lead, 
while  the  counsel  for  the  defence  sees  a  shield  which 
is  of  very  bright  gold. 

But  the  story  is  of  Mr.  Tangier's  Vacations.  The 
reader  has  seen  with  his  eyes  thus  far,  and  has  gone 
only  where  he  has  gone.  So  it  shall  be,  for  one  chap- 
ter more. 

Mr.  Tangier  walked  home  that  night  somewhat 
thoughtfully,  nay,  a  good  deal  surprised  that  Miss 
Gurtry  should  have  been  so  anxious  to  go  home,  and 
should  seem  so  nervous  and  dispirited.  He  had  run 
into  the  Stage-house  on  some  errand  concerning  the 
fire-works,  — had  entered  it  from  the  front,  while  all  the 
spectators  of  the  exhibition  were  on  the  other  side,  — 
and  he  had  met  her,  alone,  as  she  was  descending  the 
steps  of  the  front  piazza.  She  would  have  been  glad 
to  pass  him  unnoticed.  But,  even  in  his  haste,  he 
could  not  but  see  that  something  disturbed  her,  — • 


MR.   TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  193 

she  did  not  even  walk  steadily,  and  he  offered  her 
his  arm.  He  tried  to  persuade  her  to  go  back  to  the 
house,  but  she  said  she  felt  faint  and  tired,  and 
should  be  better  at  home.  She  would  not  let  him 
bring  one  of  the  carriages  for  her,  but  he  insisted 
on  going  home  with  her.  As  he  returned,  his  re- 
turn had  been  observed,  as  the  reader  knows,  but 
as  he  did  not. 

Quite  unconscious  that  he  was  challenging  the  at- 
tention of  his  neighbors,  he  went  up  to  the  school- 
house  the  next  day  to  ask  how  she  was.  It  was  clear 
enough  that  she  was  not  well.  Her  face  was  flushed, 
and  she  was  ill  at  ease.  But  she  explained  that  the 
summer  school  was  now  over.  It  had  indeed  been 
kept  open  much  longer  than  usual,  by  a  special  sub- 
scription made  among  some  of  the  parents. 

"  And  it  has  been  quite  too  long,  I  am  sure,"  said 
he,  in  his  good-natured  way,  "if  the  result  of  the 
extra  schooling  is  that  the  schoolmistress  breaks 
down.  Nervous  prostration,  my  dear  Miss  Gurtry, 
which  had  not  been  invented  ten  years  ago,  is  now 
the  order  of  the  day.  I  do  not  think  it  speaks  very 
well  for  our  wit  or  prudence." 

She  hardly  answered  him.  She  was  —  or  she  affected 
to  be  —  busy  with  locking  her  drawers  and  putting 
things  in  order  to  leave  in  one  or  two  cupboards. 
One  or  two  of  the  big  boys  were  waiting  to  help  her, 
or  to  offer  some  rustic  attention  to  her  in  parting.  It 
was  impossible  for  Mr.  Tangier  not  to  see  that  his 
presence  was  not  needed  or  desired  by  these  boys. 
Miss  Gurtry  gave  no  intimation  that  she  wished  it. 
And  so,  with  some  other  expression  of  his  wish  that 
she  might  have  a  real  holiday,  he  went  on  with  his 

13 


194  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

walk,  —  went  quite  around  White  Pond,  stopped  to 
see  how  the  workmen  came  on  with  Sabrina  Wotch's 
new  house,  and  so  was  rather  late  to  dinner. 

Little  did  he  suppose  that  the  mild  police  of  the 
boarding-house  had  noted  his  entrance  into  the  school- 
house.  The  same  mild  police  had  not  noted  the 
moment  of  his  departure,  and  credited  him  with  an 
interview  with  the  schoolmistress  for  the  two  or  three 
hours  which  followed  that  entrance.  The  mildest 
police  will  sometimes  err. 

It  was  so  ordered  that,  on  that  evening  of  all  even- 
ings, Mr.  Tangier  received  from  Mr.  Heeren's  substi- 
tute, who  was  left  in  town  to  watch  the  mails,  a  parcel 
of  papers  which  needed  his  personal  study  before  he 
sent  off  his  return  mail  of  the  next  day.  So  it  was 
that  he  did  not  take  his  walk  across  the  way  to  the 
piazza  of  Mrs.  Dunster,  where  he  spent  certainly 
three  evenings  out  of  seven,  as  she  and  her  household 
spent  three  more  on  the  stoop  at  Mrs.  Fairbanks's. 
The  next  morning,  with  his  stiff  hand,  Mr.  Tangier 
forged  out  a  long  despatch  to  Mr.  Heeren's  substitute, 
and  then  turned  his  steps  to  the  Old  Stage-house, 
otherwise  called  the  Palace  of  Delight,  to  see  what 
might  be  its  attractions  on  a  hot  morning  in  August. 

Not  very  cheerful,  not  at  all  delightsome,  was  the 
Palace  of  Delight.  Mr.  Burdett  had  been  made  to 
select  a  nice  old  lady,  who  in  her  advanced  life  pre- 
served a  certain  dignity  and  the  regard  of  all  her 
neighbors,  though  she  were  very,  very  poor,  and  he 
had  placed  her  as  keeper  in  the  Palace,  to  see  that  no 
one  actually  took  the  chairs  and  tables  into  carts  and 
carried  them  away. 

She  occupied  herself  with  her  own  sewing  and  knit- 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  195 

ting.  She  had  a  little  bedroom  behind  where  the  old 
bar  of  the  stage-house  stood,  and  as  she  sat  in  the 
reading-room,  so  called,  she  could  say,  "  How  do  you 
do  ?  "  and  otherwise  pass  the  time  of  day  to  each  and 
all  comers.  But  for  the  rest,  there  was  no  one  to  offer 
any  welcome  at  the  Palace,  and  the  wayfaring  man 
must  delight  himself  when  he  arrived  there.  Mr. 
Tangier  could  not  but  notice  that  some  of  the  news- 
papers which  he  had  himself  ordered  and  paid  for,  were 
not  yet  taken  out  of  their  wrappers.  He  also  observed 
that  no  person  but  himself  and  Aunty  Turner  were 
the  occupants  of  the  house  at  the  moment  of  his  visit. 
But  this,  indeed,  was  as  it  should  be.  For  these  were 
the  working  hours  of  the  day,  and  the  house  was  not 
dedicated  to  laziness. 

Aunty  Turner's  report  of  the  last  evening  was  not, 
on  the  whole,  unfavorable.  The  Templars  had  been 
there  and  had  occupied  their  room  for  a  session,  which 
was  of  course  private.  Some  of  the  fishermen  had 
come  up,  one  or  two  who  were  not  at  the  "  reception  " 
the  night  before.  Mr.  Tangier  could  not  find  out  that 
any  of  them  had  played  chess  or  dominos.  They  had 
preferred  to  sit  on  the  long  settees  of  the  piazza,  or 
on  its  steps,  smoking  most  of  the  time.  Two  or  three 
girls  had  walked  in  together  and  had  walked  out,  as  if 
a  little  frightened  that  they  found  no  others  there. 
On  the  whole,  the  most  encouraging  report  as  to  the 
Palace  seemed  to  be  that  the  boys  had  played  baseball 
all  the  afternoon  before  —  till  it  was  too  dark  to  see, 
indeed.  Mr.  Tangier  well  knew  that  they  would  have 
played  thus  in  Seth  Campbell's  pasture,  and  that  noth- 
ing had  drawn  them  to  the  Stage-house  but  the  pro- 
vision of  free  bats,  masks,  and  balls.  Still,  this  had 


196  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

drawn  them,  and  here  was  a  good  beginning  of  a  habit. 
They  might,  when  darkness  closed  in  on  the  green 
diamond,  come  in  and  look  at  the  "Harper's  Weekly  " 
or  the  "  Graphic."  They  had  not  done  so  last  night, 
but  possibly  they  would  in  some  halcyon  future.  For 
himself,  he  consecrated  the  reading-room  by  opening 
his  "  Tribune  "  and  reading  it  there ;  he  wrote  a  note 
to  Mr.  Stevens,  4  Trafalgar  Square,  that  he  might  in- 
augurate the  note-paper  which  he  had  himself  provided 
with  the  printed  heading,  "Old  Stage-house,  Tenter- 
don  ; "  he  put  this  in  the  letter-box,  that  Aunty  Turner 
might  see  that  the  letter-box  meant  something.  "  They 
will  begin  to  come,"  he  said  cheerily  to  her,  "  when  we 
get  the  Library  running."  "  I  hope  so,"  said  the  old 
lady,  "  for  it 's  kinder  lonely  here."  A  sad  verdict 
this  on  the  Palace  of  Delight.  To  say  the  truth,  she 
missed  the  visits  of  the  children  who  generally  looked 
in  on  her  in  her  own  old  home,  as  they  passed  by, 
and  for  whom  she  had  generally  a  bit  of  molasses 
candy,  or  some  other  toothsome  luxury.  With  such 
comfort  Mr.  Tangier  left  her,  and  determined  at  once 
to  devote  himself  to  his  plans  for  the  Library. 

He  went  up  to  the  Dunsters'  for  such  advice  and 
consolation  as  he  might  find  there,  but  the  Dunsters 
had  all  driven  over  to  Knox.  The  day  was  hot,  and 
Mr.  Tangier  doubted.  But  on  the  whole  he  deter- 
mined to  see  the  doctor.  The  doctor,  as  he  might 
have  known,  was  off  with  the  second  horse  of  the 
day.  He  was  in  the  North  Precinct,  making  the 
long  circuit  of  it,  and  would  not  be  back  before  four 
or  five  o'clock.  Mr.  Tangier  needed  advice,  and  knew 
he  did.  These  people  understood  the  town  much 
better  than  he  did.  Naturally  he  would  have  turned 


MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS.  197 

to  Mr.  Burdett.  But  his  home  was  a  mile  away,  on 
the  other  side  of  Mrs.  Fairbanks's,  and  so  Mr.  Tangier 
acted  without  advice ;  or  rather  went  to  seek  it  at 
the  lips  of  one  who  was  herself  concerned,  —  Miss 
Elizabeth  Gurtry.  She  was  boarding  at  the  Nathan 
Campbell's,  which  was  only  the  second  house  beyond 
the  doctor's.  Of  this  visit  of  Mr.  Tangier's,  also, 
the  mild  police  of  Tenterdon  took  immediate  notice, 
as  it  had  done  of  his  visit  at  the  school-house  the 
day  before.  The  mild  police  keeps  no  record  of  its 
observations,  but  it  had  casually  mentioned  before 
twelve  hours  were  over,  to  every  person  of  the  large 
number  who  were  engaged  on  its  staff,  that  Mr.  Tan- 
gier had  visited  Miss  Gurtry  three  times  in  as  many 
days. 

The  interview  was,  in  fact,  one  which  might  have 
taken  place  in  the  parlor  of  the  Old  Stage-house. 
To  tell  the  precise  truth,  Miss  Gurtry  kept  Mr. 
Tangier  waiting  a  little  while  in  Mrs.  Campbell's  sit. 
ting-room,  and  when  she  did  come  in  showed  the 
slightest  possible  sign  of  annoyance,  if  that  pleasant 
face  could  show  such  a  sign.  But  her  manner  was 
still  cordial,  as  she  excused  herself  for  her  delay. 

"  I  was  in  the  midst  of  packing,  Mr.  Tangier.  And 
you  do  not  know  —  or  I  hope  you  do  not  know  — 
what  it  is  to  pack  after  you  have  been  at  home 
for  nearly  a  year,  when  you  may  never  come  back 
again." 

"You  never  come  back  again?  What  do  you  mean?  " 
said  he,  in  a  man's  blundering  way.  For,  in  truth, 
he  had  wholly  associated  Miss  Gurtry  with  Tenterdon, 
and  supposed  she  belonged  there  as  much  as  the  Old 
Stage-house.  He  had  yet  to  learn  as  matter  of  fact 


198  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

and  practice,  what  he  knew  perfectly  well  as  matter 
of  talk  and  theory,  that  in  New  England  hardly  any 
one  holds  anywhere  by  a  tenure  of  more  than  twenty- 
four  hours.  The  Viking  habit  of  movement  is  in  our 
blood. 

"  Oh,  I  hope  I  shall  come  back !  Every  one  would 
like  to  come  back  to  a  place  which  has  been  almost 
home.  But  I  am  a  teacher,  and  a  teacher  is  like  a 
soldier  or  a  sailor,  —  she  goes  where  she  is  sent." 

"And  pray  where  are  you  sent  now,  if  I  may  be 
bold  enough  to  ask? "  said  he.  "  Really,  indeed,  we 
shall  miss  you  so  here.  I  had  supposed  Tenterdon 
had  a  lien  on  you."  He  wanted  to  say,  "Does  Mr. 
Drummond  know  of  your  purpose  ?  '•"  But  he  was 
not  wholly  left  by  the  powers  who  had  him  in  hand, 
and  he  stopped  short  here. 

There  was  an  uncomfortable  pause  for  a  moment. 
He  broke  it. 

"  Do  you  not  —  is  your  engagement  over  ?  When 
does  the  school  open  again,  and  who  will  take  care 
of  the  children  then  ?  " 

The  girl  seemed  puzzled.  Was  she  annoyed  per- 
haps that  he  was  breaking  up  her  pressing  work  with 
questions  which  it  was  really  hardly  his  right  to  ask  ? 
But  they  were  good  friends,  of  course,  and  she  an- 
swered at  once :  — 

"  Do  you  understand  your  own  country  so  little  ? 
No  teacher  in  a  country  school  holds  place  for  a  mo-| 
ment  after  the  end  of  the  term.  Why,  here  all  the 
district  committee  are  my  friends,  —  Mr.  Norton,  as  you 
know,  my  near  friend,  — but  I  do  not  think  that  one 
of  them  would  commit  himself  a  week  in  advance  of 
the  committee's  meeting  in  November.  Still,  I  sup- 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  199 

pose,"  —  said  the  girl,  with  a  certain  archness  which 
seemed  a  little  more  like  herself,  —  "I  suppose  that  if 
I  want  this  school  I  can  have  it,  or  another  in  this 
town."  She  stopped  a  moment,  and  then  went  on 
with  more  hesitation :  "  It  is  I  who  am  uncertain. 
I  do  not  know.  My  father  is  an  old  man,  and  he  has 
no  one  but  his  little  girl  to  care  for  him.  Mr.  Tan- 
gier —  no,  you  cannot  know  how  hard  an  old  man's 
life  may  be  made.  My  mother  died  when  I  was  very 
young,  and  —  well,  Mr.  Tangier,  his  second  wife  was 
not  good  to  him,  and  now  she  is  dead  too.  And  that 
is  the  reason  why  I  am  going  home." 

Mr.  Tangier  of  course  sympathized  with  her,  could 
not  but  sympathize,  — who  could  ?  But  how  could  he 
advise  ?  nay,  what  advice  could  he  have  given  had  he 
any  right  to  advise  ?  That  was  a  question  he  could 
not  have  answered  had  he  put  it  in  form.  Still,  he 
was  conscious  that  all  this  was  wrong,  that  she  was 
with  the  best  of  friends  in  Tenterdon,  and  among 
others  he  thought  of  Drummond,  who  was  a  man 
whom  he  thoroughly  respected.  He  knew  that  she 
must  really  begin  a  new  life  with  her  father.  He 
determined  at  once  to  advise,  whether  he  had  any 
right  to  advise  or  no.  And  he  said,  a  little  abruptly 
perhaps,  "  Could  not  your  father  come  here  ?  Is 
there  anything  to  bind  him  there  ?  " 

Strange  to  say,  a  flush  which  seemed  to  express 
pleasure  passed  over  her  face.  But  she  repressed  it, 
and  in  a  troubled  way,  again,  she  answered,  "  Oh,  no  ! 
I  am  so  fond  of  my  life  here,  and  of  my  boys,  that 
I  had  thought  of  that,  —  I  thought  it  all  over.  But 
how  could  it  be  ?  He  would  be  quite  without  friends 
here.  He  is  not  strong.  And  I  —  oh,  Mr.  Tangier, 


200  MR.   TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

I  have  sent  him  a  little  money,  but  you  do  not  know, 
a  young  girl  like  me  can  earn  so  little ! " 

Is  it  a  wonder  that,  as  the  slight  creature  spoke 
with  this  despair,  May  Remington's  words  came  back 
to  him,  when  she  had  so  eloquently  described  the  way 
in  which  some  man  ought  to  take  Bessy  Gurtry  in  his 
arms  and  tell  her  that  her  struggle  was  over  ?  He 
did  not,  however,  make  this  proposal  himself.  He 
did,  judiciously  or  not,  advance  the  conversation  a 
step  by  saying :  — 

"  I  do  not  see  why  I  should  not  say  what  I  came 
for.  Certainly  not  to  interrupt  your  packing.  I  had 
no  idea  that  you  meant  to  go  home  so  soon ;  indeed, 
that  you  meant  to  go  at  all.  I  came,  because  —  well, 
let  me  begin  at  the  beginning.  I  was  at  our  club- 
house this  morning,  the  Old  Stage-house,  and  I  was 
the  only  visitor.  There  will  be  no  one  to  come  there, 
unless  somebody  is  there  to  take  care,  and  to  make  it 
inviting.  Well,  I  thought  of  the  Library  again.  I 
knew  your  school  was  over,  and  I  thought  you  might 
undertake  to  be  librarian.  You  see  —  let  me  explain 
before  you  answer.  For  a  thousand  books,  of  course, 
a  librarian  would  have  very  little  to  do.  But,  my 
dear  Miss  Gurtry,  if  the  right  person  were  there,  say 
if  you  were  there,  and  with  nothing  else  to  do,  while 
you  would  be  called  librarian  you  would  feally  be 
teacher  and  helper  to  half  the  children  and  young 
people  in  the  town.  Don't  you  see  ?  You  would 
have  your  Sunday-school  class  there,  you  would  have 
the  King's  Daughters  there,  you  would  have  some  of 
these  boys  who  worship  you,"  and  she  smiled  gravely 
now,  "  and  you  would  make  a  Wadsworth  club  of 
them.  You  would  have  a  microscope,  don't  you  see, 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  201 

and  teach  them  botany.  You  would  be  just  as  much 
a  teacher  as  you  are  at  the  school-house,  and  you 
would  justify  the  pains  we  have  all  taken  in  fixing  up 
the  old  shell;  because,  with  you  to  welcome  them, 
they  would  come  to  be  welcomed.  They  did  not 
teach  you  to  do  this  at  the  Normal  School,  but  I 
should  think  it  as  good  a  mission  as  to  teach  little 
Nahum  Pingree  that  b-a-t  spells  cow." 

He  pretended  to  laugh,  but  he  knew  that  he  was 
in  earnest.  When  he  began,  her  face  had  seemed 
listless  and  sad,  but  her  expression  had  wholly 
changed  when  he  closed  his  little  appeal.  She  took 
him  up  at  the  moment  when  he  stopped :  "  Oh,  Mr. 
Tangier,  you  read  my  own  thoughts,  only  your  plans 
go  farther  than  mine.  I  told  my  girls,  only  on  Sun- 
day, when  I  bade  them  good-by,  that  they  must  meet 
there  Saturdays  to  go  over  their  Sunday  lesson  to- 
gether. I  told  the  base-ball  boys  to  be  sure  to  go 
in  whenever  it  rained,  and  read  aloud.  I  even  gave 
them  a  list  of  books  that  were  not  all  nonsense,  you 
know.  Why,  I  had  a  long  talk  with  —  a  friend,"  — 
she  would  have  said  George  Drummond  had  she 
dared,  —  "  and  we  had  planned  it  all  out ;  there  was 
to  be  a  Shakspeare  club  and  a  Chautauqua  circle, 
and  some  one  was  to  teach  us  botany,  as  you  say. 
But  really,  it  seemed  like  a  dream  —  and  seems  so 
now,"  she  said  more  sadly,  as  her  enthusiasm  ex- 
pended itself  a  little. 

"  I  do  not  see  why  it  is  a  dream,"  said  he.  "  If  it 
is,  it  is  a  dream  late  in  the  morning.  And  morning 
dreams  come  true,  they  say.  For  it  was  to  propose 
this  to  you  in  definite  form  that  I  walked  over.  I 
wanted  to  talk  with  the  doctor  first,  but  that  is  no 


202  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

matter,  as  I  have  missed  him."  Then  he  went  on 
to  say  that  though  nothing  was  systematized  about 
the  Old  Stage-house,  he  was  heartily  interested  in 
the  plans,  even  the  boldest,  which  had  been  made 
for  it.  He  did  not  want  them  to  fail.  If  an  experi- 
ment was  tried,  and  succeeded,  why,  any  board  of 
management  which  might  be  appointed  would  take 
it  up  far  more  cheerfully  and  confidently  than  if 
it  were  all  on  paper.  He  had  thought  that  perhaps 
she  would  stay  in  the  House  so  as  to  cheer  up  Aunty 
Turner  to  begin  with.  Then — well,  she  saw  what 
could  be  done  every  day.  "Just  for  your  vacation, 
you  know,"  he  said,  almost  urging  her.  And  he  asked 
then  what  was  her  monthly  stipend  as  schoolmistress. 
She  told  him  that  it  was  twelve  dollars  a  week.  It 
was  not  much ;  but  she  said  it  was  all  she  was  worth 
as  schoolma'ams  were  paid  now.  Mr.  Tangier  at  once 
proposed  to  her  to  take  on  trial,  at  that  rate  of  salary, 
for  three  months  or  a  year,  as  she  should  prefer,  the 
post  of  librarian  at  the  Stage-house.  "  Librarian  "  she 
was  to  be  called,  but  her  function  was  to  be  much 
wider  than  the  charge  of  books.  It  was  to  be  what 
he  had  blocked  out  in  his  talk  —  it  was  to  be  what- 
ever she  should  find  best  to  be  done  in  the  way  of 
levelling  up  the  lives  of  the  young  people  whom  she 
could  make  to  consort  there.  "  It  will  be,"  said  he, 
"  in  the  end  of  the  afternoons,  and  in  the  evenings. 
It  ought  to  be,  and  it  will  be.  They  will  be  at  work 
in  the  morning,  and  you  and  Aunty  Turner  will  have 
the  morning  to  yourselves." 

Mr.  Tangier  was  really  eloquent,  in  his  quiet  way, 
as  he  urged  this.  But  Miss  Gurtry  gave  him  no  en- 
couragement. She  had  made  her  path,  she  said,  or 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  203 

God  had  made  it  for  her,  and  she  would  walk  in  it. 
Her  father  needed  her,  and  to  her  father  she  would 
go.  And  so  he  bade  her  good-by,  —  wondering  at  her 
force,  and  admiring  her  for  it,  —  and  he  returned  to 
his  lodgings,  asking  himself  if  it  could  be  that  he  was 
never  to  see  her  again. 


204  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER  V. 

AND  now  the  reader  must  follow  our  story  for  a 
little  from  the  schoolmistress's  point  of  view- 
Miss  Bessy  Gurtry,  as  her  prime  favorites  among  the 
girls  were  permitted  to  call  her,  started  on  her  jour- 
ney  for  a  long  August  day,  and  what  seemed  a  much 
longer  night,  heart-sick  and  broken-down.  She  had 
borne  herself  in  Mr.  Tangier's  presence  with  a  pre- 
tence of  courage  which  was  much  more  than  she  really 
felt,  and  the  reaction  when  she  was  alone  made  her 
the  more  cowardly.  The  parting  with  these  good- 
natured  Campbells,  who  had  been  kind  to  her  for  the 
last  eight  months,  did  not  help  to  re-inspirit  her.  She 
dropped  her  veil  when  she  found  herself  with  the 
other  passengers  in  the  mail  carriage  which  took  them 
across  to  Wentworth  Junction ;  for  if  the  tears  chose 
to  come,  she  wanted  to  let  them  come  with  no  one  the 
wiser.  And  they  did  come ;  and  all  the  passengers, 
sympathetic  or  unsympathetic,  knew  that  the  poor 
girl  was  crying. 

The  great  express  swept  along  with  a  rush,  but  con- 
descended to  stop  for  a  moment  to  take  her  on  board. 
Then  followed  thirty  hours  of  smoke  and  dust  and 
cinders,  of  boys  with  figs,  boys  with  cracked  walnuts, 
boys  with  packages  .of  candy ;  other  boys,  or  the  same 
boys,  came  with  poor  novels  in  stiff  covers,  then  with 
poorer  novels  in  paper  covers,  then  with  fashion  news- 


MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS.  *     205 

papers  and  other  weeklies,  and  then  with  daily  papers. 
Each  boy,  as  he  passed,  scanned  her  face,  till  he  could 
judge  from  it  what  sort  of  novel  she  would  like,  or 
what  newspaper  or  magazine,  and  when  he  had  de- 
termined, he  left  it  with  her.  The  thirty  hours  in- 
cluded one  night,  as  any  thirty  hours  south  of  the 
Arctic  circle  must  do.  Just  as  night  came  on,  an  army 
of  Canadians,  men,  women,  and  little  children,  invaded 
the  car.  They  took  possession,  as  so  many  locusts 
might  have  done,  seeming  to  disregard  the  presence 
of  the  people  who  were  there  before,  as  if  they  had 
been  so  many  images.  The  new-comers  did  not  speak 
to  their  predecessors,  nor  heed  their  inquiries.  A 
young  woman  with  a  baby  on  each  arm  sat  down 
abruptly  by  the  side  of  the  schoolmistress,  waking 
her  suddenly  from  half-sleep,  and  crushing  the  little 
hand-bag  which  she  had  placed  there ;  nor  did  the 
Frenchwoman  seem  disturbed  that  it  was  under  her. 
Both  babies  screamed  lustily.  Bessy  Gurtry  took  one 
of  them  to  try  her  newly-acquired  Kindergarten  ex- 
perience. But  it  was  all  one  who  took  the  child.  It 
screamed  as  a  cricket  would  have  done,  and  as  all  the 
five  babies  around  did.  Of  a  sudden  a  veteran  French- 
woman appeared  on  the  scene  with  a  bottle  of  milk. 
A  stout  man,  who  seemed  to  be  a  sort  of  major-general 
of  this  organized  invasion,  poured  out  a  little  tumbler 
full  for  each  screaming  baby.  Each  in  turn  took  what 
was  given,  as  the  six  horses  of  a  rapid  stage-coach 
might  take  their  water  when  it  was  brought  to  them 
at  a  relay-house,  and  then  each  of  the  six  sank  to 
sleep.  "The  complete  satisfaction  of  any  personal 
appetite  is  followed  by  sleep,"  says  Dr.  Hammond, 
and  so  it  proved  now.  In  three  minutes  all  was  still. 


206  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

And  with  such  adventures  the  night  went  on,  and  the 
day  which  followed. 

But  there  is  an  end  to  every  lane,  to  every  night, 
and  to  every  day  ;  and  so  it  was  that,  just  as  the  sun 
went  down  on  the  second  day  on  the  station,  called  a 
"  deepo,"  at  Is  ewfane,  she  was  at  last  released  from  her 
moving  prison,  and  stepped  timidly  from  the  car  upon 
the  platform.  It  was  an  insignificant  station,  at  that 
lowest  of  grades  in  the  order  of  commerce,  known  as 
a  "  flag-station."  The  "  depot-master  "  evidently  ex- 
pected no  one  by  this  train,  —  generally  it  passed  him 
without  even  stopping,  leaving  its  thin  and  consump- 
tive mail-bag  by  a  mysterious  mechanism  of  intelli- 
gent iron  rods  on  hinges.  He  took  the  girl's  trunk  in 
one  hand,  and  the  lean  bag  in  the  other,  —  so  small 
were  they  both  that  he  needed  neither  barrow  nor  as- 
sistant. She  looked  round  timidly  and  rather  anx- 
iously, and  then  asked  him  with  frightened  surprise 
if  there  were  no  one  there  from  Tecumseh. 

"  Tecumseh  !  No,  lady.  No !  We  don't  often  have 
folks  from  thar.  Most  of  their  folks  goes  by  the  great 
Northern." 

She  knew  this,  she  said,  but  on  this  occasion  she 
had  written  to  her  father  that  he  should  drive  across 
country  for  her  and  meet  her  here. 

"Ye  farther?  'n'  wot  sort  of  man  may  he  be?"" 
asked  the  good-natured  agent,  curious,  and  trying  to 
show  sympathy.  "  Does  he  wear  a  straw  hat  ?  " 

The  girl  intimated  that  she  did  not  know.  As  it 
was  August,  he  probably  did. 

"  Don't  you  think  he  will  come  ?  But  of  course 
you  cannot  tell,"  she  said,  trying  not  to  sob. 

"Wall,  I  donnoh,"  said  the  good-natured  fellow  in 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  207 

answer.  "PVapsthe  mail  broke  down.  They  don't 
have  no  daily  mail,  any  way,  to  Tecurnseh  ;  on'y  every 
other  day,  and  onsartin  at  that.  Has  ye  heern  from 
him  since  ye  writ  ?  " 

No,  she  had  not  heard,  but  she  had  given  time 
enough.  If  her  father  was  well,  he  would  certainly  be 
here  himself. 

"Wall,  ef  ye  don't  mind  waitin'  alone,  ye  can  sit 
here,  V  I  '11  leave  your  things  jest  ware  they  be.  I  '11 
go  over  to  the  house  'n'  git  suthin'  to  eat ;  onless 
raebbe  you  '11  come  too.  We  can  leave  the  things,  'n' 
nobody  '11  take  um  till  he  comes.  Guess  you  'd  like  a 
cup  o'  tea,  mebbe  ?  " 

Poor  child;  she  was,  indeed,  faint  and  heart-sick, 
and  hungry  and  thirsty.  But  she  did  not  know 
who  might  appear  if  she  turned  her  back,  and  she 
said  so. 

"  Oh,  don't  be  afeared.  We  should  see  um,  ye 
know,  ef  anybody  come  along.  Et's  only  a  little 
way.  You  come  with  me,  and  the  ole  woman  will  be 
all  ready." 

And  actually  the  good  fellow,  on  hospitable  thoughts 
intent,  expected  her  to  leave  all  her  worldly  wealth 
on  the  platform,  while  she  shared  his  unnamed  after- 
noon meal.  But  while  she  dreaded  the  risk,  and  on 
the  other  hand  could  not  bear  to  seem  disobliging,  the 
welcome  sight  appeared,  half  a  mile  away,  of  a  horse 
and  wagon.  It  was  enough  to  induce  the  station- 
master  to  wait,  and  eight  or  ten  minutes  more  showed 
that  waiting  was  not  in  vain.  The  driver  was,  as  had 
been  hoped,  John  Gurtry. 

Alas!  the  least  inspection  of  the  whole  equipage 
and  of  the  man  was  enough  to  tell  the  whole  story. 


208  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

His  face  was  thin  and  skinny,  as  if  he  had  a  new 
attack  of  malaria  or  "  shakes "  every  month  of  his 
life. 

His  dress,  always  neat  indeed,  but  wretchedly  worn 
•wherever  dress  can  show  wear,  brought  back  in  fabric 
and  in  cut  memories  of  years  gone  by.  The  horse  and 
wagon !  One  wondered  that  either  had  survived  the 
rush  of  the  advancement  of  the  West,  and  why  or  where 
it  had  been  thought  that  they  were  worth  keeping  in 
existence.  He  pointed  out,  as  an  excuse  for  his  delay, 
the  broken  trace,  which  he  had  to  mend  by  nailing 
the  bits  together  on  his  way  from  Tecumseh.  The 
good-natured  station  agent  lifted  the  little  trunk  into 
the  wagon,  pressed  them  both  again  to  go  round  and 
try  the  tea,  as  he  had  pressed  her  before,  and  then 
bade  them  good-by  in  a  tone,  however,  which  showed 
how  little  hope  he  had  that,  with  that  establishment, 
they  would  soon  arrive  anywhere. 

"Better  hold  up  in  the  hollow,  and  git  Hiram  to 
take  a  stitch  in  them  traces.  'Fi  was  you  I  would  put 
in  another  of  them  big  tacks  now.  Hold  on  a  bit." 
And  he  came  out  from  the  office  with  a  brick,  a 
hammer,  and  two  sharp  tacks  with  which  he  him- 
self improved  on  the  insufficient  botchery  which  he 
condemned. 

But  poor  Bessy  Gurtry  was  so  happy  in  seeing  her 
father  again,  in  her  surety  that  no  accident  had  hap- 
pened to  him,  in  her  freedom  indeed  from  all  the 
doubts  of  the  last  half-hour,  that  all  those  new  doubts 
and  fears  passed  her  unnoticed.  She  had  travelled 
nearly  a  thousand  miles  to  be  with  her  poor  worn-out 
father.  She  was  with  him  now.  And,  whatever 
happened,  she  asked  or  needed  little  more. 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  209 

"  He  was  as  God-forsaken  a  critter  as  ye  ever  did 
see."  This  was  the  comment  of  the  station  agent, 
when  at  last  his  wife  poured  out  for  him  his  long- 
delayed  tea.  "'W  after  all,  anybody  could  see  thar 
was  the  right  stuff  in  him.  Played  out,  that 's  all." 

Yes,  poor  John  Gurtry  was  played  out.  This  was 
the  end  of  his  gallantly  going  into  the  war  rather 
older  than  most  men.  For  four  years  he  pulled  on  as 
a  soldier,  coming  out  as  a  Captain,  Brevet  Colonel 
indeed.  All  the  four  years  were  in  sickly  regions. 
All  the  quinine  in  the  world  could  not  have  broken  up 
the  deadly  poison  of  those  swamps. 

Yet  no  lucky  bullet  had  so  much  as  scratched  a 
little  finger.  There  was  no  injury  "  received  in  actual 
service  "  for  which  a  grateful  country  could  make  repa- 
ration. Nay,  John  Gurtry  was  himself  too  proud  to 
have  asked  for  any,  had  a  grateful  country  wanted  to 
give  it.  ,And  by  this  time  the  surgeons  were  dead 
who  would  have  known  how,  and  who  could  have  told 
where,  were  sown  the  seeds  of  malaria  which  had  all 
but  unmanned  him,  and  would  not  cease  to  germinate 
until  he  died. 

A  grateful  country  had  made  him  postmaster  of 
Tecumseh  for  some  twenty  years.  But  this  was  all 
over  now.  Politics  had  changed,  and  nobody  at  head- 
quarters now  was  so  very  grateful.  And  somebody 
else  wanted  the  place,  and  John  Gurtry  had  no  friends 
at  court,  nor  would  have  used  them,  had  there  been 
any. 

To  this  man,  after  a  second  marriage,  which  had 
turned  out  wretchedly,  the  only  relation  left  in  the 
world  was  this  slight  girl,  our  Bessy  Gurtry,  who  was 
made  for  the  moment  perfectly  happy  because  she 

14 


210  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

was  sitting  by  his  side.  The  woman  who  took  the 
place  of  her  mother  had  fairly  driven  her  from  home. 
Better  for  her  that  it  should  be  so.  By  hook  and  by 
crook  she  had  used  her  time  in  the  Normal  School, 
till  at  the  youngest  conceivable  age  she  could  try  her 
powers  as  a  schoolmistress ;  and  how  well  she  had 
succeeded,  and  to  what  grade  she  had  risen  in  her 
calling,  our  readers  know. 

It  was  more  than  two  years,  nearly  three,  since  she 
and  her  father  had  met.  For  her  these  were  the  most 
eventful  years  of  life.  She  had  been  sent  from  home, 
not  to  say  driven,  under  the  constant  wearing  an- 
tipathy of  her  stepmother.  At  one  and  another 
academy  and  normal  school  she  had  fought  her  way 
to  the  position  which  she  was  now  able  to  hold,  and 
to  hold  well,  in  charge  of  a  school.  In  the  vacations 
of  these  training-schools,  by  hard  work,  either  at  some 
shop  counter,  or  as  a  book-keeper  or  cashier,  once  as 
a  private  governess,  she  had  earned  the  money  with 
which  she  lived  for  the  rest  of  the  year,  and  had 
paid  her  modest  school  fees.  A  year  before,  "this 
woman,"  as  the  second  wife  was  generally  called 
when  people  spoke  of  Mr.  Gurtry's  family,  had  died 
suddenly.  All  along,  Bessy  Gurtry's  correspondence 
with  her  father  had  been  close  and  dear.  For  the  last 
year  and  more  she  had  been  able  to  remit  to  him 
something  from  her  earnings,  enough  to  give  her  the 
feeling  that  she  lightened  a  little  the  pressure  of  the 
harrow  that  was  dragged  over  him.  But,  till  now,  they 
had  not  met  since  she  was  a  school-girl  with  long 
braided  hair  hanging  down  behind,  with  a  school- 
girl's short  skirts  and  boy's  boots.  In  place  of  that 
school-girl  John  Gurtry  now  welcomed,  and  he  hardly 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  211 

knew,  this  mature,  graceful,  rather  elegant  young 
lady. 

With  quite  unnecessary  detail  he  plunged  into  a 
long  second  explanation,  to  tell  why  he  was  late,  and 
why  he  did  not  drive  a  certain  span  of  horses  which 
would  have  been  much  quicker  than  the  broken-winded 
wretch,  which  was  in  fact  yoked  in  with  their  desti- 
nies at  the  moment.  But  the  girl  hardly  cared  what 
he  said.  For  months  she  had  been  longing  to  hear 
his  voice  and  to  see  his  face.  She  had  been  homesick 
for  the  sight  and  the  sound.  She  could  not  quite 
persuade  herself  that  the  poor,  thin,  shaken  man 
looked  even  as  well  as  he  did  three  years  before.  But 
the  voice  had  not  changed.  Voices  do  not  change. 
As  they  rode  slowly  on,  she  did  not  see  the  face. 
She  heard  the  familiar  tones ;  there  were  the  old 
spurts  of  humor,  of  exaggeration  sometimes,  of  self- 
depreciation  always.  It  was  wholly  her  own  father. 
And  whether  they  arrived  at  Tecumseh  at  eight  in 
the  evening,  or  at  four  the  next  morning,  it  was  all 
one  to  her. 

This  joy  was  a  little  dashed,  as  must  be  confessed, 
when,  at  half  past-nine  o'clock,  they  did  arrive.  Poor 
John  Gurtry  had  done  his  best  to  make  his  modest 
apartment  fit  for  a  lady's  presence.  He  had  a  bunch 
of  summer  lilies  in  a  wash-pitcher  as  an  ornament. 
While  his  daughter  opened  her  trunk,  he  repaired  to 
the  well,  and  brought  up  a  plate  of  butter  and  a  dish 
of  berries  which  he  had  lowered  in  a  private  tin  pail 
to  keep  them  cool.  These  dainties  he  had  ready  on  a 
tin  waiter  covered  with  a  neat  napkin.  No  sign  ap- 
peared of  any  other  host  than  he,  and  she  knew,  from 
what  he  had  told  her,  that  she  and  he  would  reign 


212  MR.   TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

monarchs  supreme  of  this  household  while  she  stayed. 
Perhaps  she  would  like  to  make  breakfast  and  get 
tea  here.  As  for  dinners,  he  had  arranged  with 
Mrs.  Whitcomb,  the  other  side  of  the  way.  The  girl 
praised  the  skill  of  his  masculine  housekeeping.  She 
did  not  need  to  feign  an  appetite,  and  applied  herself 
to  the  bread  and  berries  while  her  father  took  the 
horse  and  wagon  to  the  stable. 

Everything  was  of  the  simplest  and  cheapest  in  this 
modest  establishment  of  her  father's,  in  which  now  for 
some  weeks  she  made  her  home,  but  it  was  of  the  neat- 
est also.  At  first,  the  joy  of  being  with  him  again  was 
enough  to  leave  her  indifferent  to  personal  comfort. 
She  brought  in  one  and  another  trivial  improvement  in 
the  daily  routine,  but  simply  and  accidentally,  so  that 
he  might  not  think  she  found  fault  with  his  ways. 
With  every  morning,  the  poor  fellow  addressed  him- 
self, with  a  sharp  spur  of  conscience  goading  him,  to 
the  helpless  and  futile  task  of  finding  something  to 
do.  One  day  he  was  at  court,  dressed  in  his  best,  in 
the  vague  wish  that  he  might  be  necessary  as  a  tales- 
man, when  the  jury  was  called,  as  by  good  luck  he  had 
been  a  year  before.  But  it  was  a  Democratic  sheriff 
this  time,  and  he  had  no  eyes  for  the  old  Eepublican 
postmaster.  One  morning  it  was  a  long  tramp  over  to 
Sidley's,  where  their  cashier  had  been  drowned  in  a 
freshet,  and  there  seemed  reason  to  hope  that  in  the 
promotions  a  copying  clerk  might  be  needed.  Five 
miles'  walk  to  Sidley's  and  five  back,  —  that  was  all 
John  Gurtry  made  by  it.  He  would  not  complain  to 
his  daughter.  He  dropped  not  a  word  about  hard 
usage,  or  an  ungrateful  sneer.  But  when  he  did  come 
in,  perhaps  at  four  or  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  213 

after  one  of  these  daily  tours  of  useless  homage  at  the 
great  altar,  after  she  had  given  to  him  the  bowl  of  soup 
she  had  ready  to  warm  up  for  him,  and  the  eggs  she 
scrambled  on  the  little  kerosene  stove,  he  would  bring 
out  his  papers  with  such  solid  satisfaction,  he  would 
explain  to  her  the  drawings  in  the  "  Scientific  Ameri- 
can "  so  eagerly,  and  try  to  make  her  understand  where 
the  last  inventor  had  missed  the  critical  point  which 
Gurtry  himself  would  so  willingly  and  eagerly  have 
applied,  that  the  girl's  heart  —  half  glad,  indeed,  to 
see  him  happy  —  was  by  turns  almost  broken  when 
she  wished  that  he  were  somewhere,  in  some  place 
where  he  might  not  have  to  pretend  to  be  the  man 
of  affairs  which  he  was  not,  and  where  he  might  have 
the  solid  joys  of  the  life  of  the  dreamer  that  he  was. 

He  did  not  often  permit  himself,  even  to  her,  to  open 
on  the  endless  vistas  of  his  dreams.  But  once  as  she 
sat,  really  on  his  knee  again,  in  the  darkness,  after 
twilight  had  almost  faded  away,  she  had  lured  him 
into  telling  her  early  stories  about  her  mother,  and  he 
gained  courage  to  repeat  to  her  some  verses  he  had 
written  to  her  mother  on  the  last  Valentine's  day  be- 
fore she  died.  It  was,  indeed,  a  long  poem,  —  so  pretty, 
she  thought  it,  so  tender,  —  and,  in  the  midst  of  its 
dainty,  loving  flatteries,  it  was  all  so  true.  He  had 
sent  to  Bessy  herself  pretty  verses  on  her  birthday 
and  at  other  festival  times ;  and  more  than  once  he 
had  written  songs  or  hymns  for  public  celebrations. 
But  even  her  love  was  surprised  at  the  reach  and  the 
depth  of  this  poem  which  he  had  sent  to  her  dear 
mother,  and  she  assailed  him,  with  glad  severity,  pre- 
tending to  blame  him  that  he  had  never  read  it  to  her 
before.  In  the  end  she  made  him  light  the  lamp  and 


214  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

bring  out  the  old  portfolio  and  the  school  copy-books 
into  which  he  had  copied,  while  her  mother  lived,  and 
since  "this  woman"  died,  several  poems,  more  than 
pretty,  all  alive  with  his  love  of  Nature,  with  his  rev- 
erence for  duty,  and  with  his  intimacy  with  God,  and, 
in  the  midst  of  joy  and  reverence,  just  flavored  now  and 
then  with  the  tonic  bitterness  of  a  life  which  seemed 
to  have  failed  entirely,  and  which  wondered  what  its 
seeming  failure  was.  Bessy  Gurtry  knew  all  this  was 
in  her  father ;  but  till  now  she  had  never  known  that 
he  had  succeeded  in  expressing  it  in  words. 

Alas,  and  alas !  Her  own  daily  life  was  not  very 
different  from  his.  What  had  she  come  home  for  ? 
Because  she  was  not  satisfied  to  send  him  a  check  for 
twenty  dollars  every  now  and  then,  when  she  could 
earn  it,  and  stay  away  from  him,  not  knowing  when 
he  was  sad,  or  hungry  perhaps,  or  sick,  with  nothing 
but  a  guarded,  uncomplaining  letter  once  a  week,  to 
tell  her  of  his  life.  Because  she  was  not  satisfied 
with  this  she  had  crossed  the  country  to  resume  her 
home  life.  Ah,  me  !  because  she  was  not  satisfied  to 
leave  him  alone,  what  had  she  not  surrendered  that 
night  George  Drummond  spoke  to  her  so  eagerly  ? 
And  now,  what  was  coming  of  this  sacrifice  ?  The 
very  first  day  she  was  in  Tecmnseh  one  and  another 
gossip  told  her,  half  a  dozen  times,  that  the  place  of 
assistant  preceptor  in  the  Academy  had  been  given  to 
Mary  Brodenheirn,  and  these  gossips  all  knew  that 
Elizabeth  Gurtry  had  been  spoken  of  among  the  can- 
didates. She  had  thought  it  would  be  so  good  if  she 
could  take  her  father  to  live  with  her  in  the  Academy 
dormitory.  Morning  after  morning,  while  he  was 
walking  to  Sidley's  and  to  other  such  places,  seek- 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  215 

ing  employment  such  as  a  broken  man  might  take, 
poor  Bessy  was  writing  to  old  school  friends,  or  now 
and  then  visiting  school  trustees,  to  offer  her  services 
anywhere  where  there  was  a  market.  And  she  had 
no  better  success  than  he.  The  market  in  Education 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  "  bears,"  and  poor  Bessy  was 
not  the  person  to  "  bull  it."  She  was  provoked  with 
herself,  but  she  was  ashamed  as  she  made  one  and 
another  such  visit,  with  the  same  certain  result,  — the 
causes  were  different,  but  the  sequel  was  the  same. 
Either  she  was  too  young,  or  they  had  decided  to  take 
a  man,  or  the  funds  had  shrunk  and  they  must  econo- 
mize, or  nothing  could  be  changed  before  the  spring. 
Bessy  came  to  that  point,  bitterly  strained  as  she  was, 
that,  as  she  rang  the  bell  or  knocked  on  the  door,  she 
could  construct  in  advance  her  sentence  of  dismissal. 

Was  it  possible  that,  after  all,  she  must  stand  be- 
hind the  counter  and  sell  thread  and  needles  and 
writing-books  and  slates  and  pencils  and  straw  hats 
and  horse-rakes  and  hoes  and  pitchers  and  basins  and 
tumblers  and  knives  and  forks  and  the  ten  million 
other  necessaries  of  life  which  the  Meldrums  sold  at 
their  store  ?  They  had  had  a  sign  out  ever  since  she 
came  to  Tecumseh  that  they  wanted  a  "sales-lady." 
Bessy  saw  it  in  every  walk  she  took,  and  at  dinner  at 
the  boarding-house,  every  other  day,  that  cross  Miss 
Sylvia  Smith  asked  her  why  she  did  not  go  to  Mel- 
drum's  and  talk  to  him  about  it.  She  was  afraid  that 
the  public  opinion  of  the  village  would  settle  down 
upon  Miss  Sylvia  Smith's  opinion  that  it  was  her  duty 
to  go  there.  But  Bessy  hated  shop-keeping.  She  had 
been  a  shop-girl,  and  was  not  unsuccessful  in  that 
affair ;  but  it  tired  her,  her  very  bones  ached,  and  her 


216  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

head  swam,  —  it  tired  her  so  that  she  could  not  even 
sleep.  It  confused  her.  She  would  sell  scissors  for 
the  price  of  forks,  she  would  weigh  forks  like  raisins. 
She  hoped,  she  even  prayed,  that  she  might  not  have 
to  go  to  Meldrum's. 

She  remembered,  all  along,  her  promise  to  Mr.  Tan- 
gier, and  the  similar  promise  she  had  made  to  Mrs. 
Campbell,  that  when  she  was  settled  she  would  write 
to  them.  She  was  not  settled  yet,  but  she  must  write 
something ;  so  on  a  rainy  morning  she  wrote  two  letters 
to  Tenterdon. 

And  the  mild  police  of  Tenterdon,  which  kept  a 
very  capable  force  at  the  post-office,  announced  at 
once  that  Mr.  Tangier  had  had  a  letter  from  Elizabeth 
Gurtry. 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  217 


CHAPTER  VI. 

LIFE  at  Mrs.  Fairbanks's  house  went  on  with 
the  usual  limitations,  and  the  usual  joys  of 
summer  life  among  people  of  whom  the  one  point 
of  agreement  was  that  they  had  nothing  to  do,  and 
that  they  wanted  to  make  the  best  of  a  holiday 
only  too  short.  The  few  gentlemen  went  fishing, 
all  day  long  perhaps,  carrying  their  luncheons  with 
them.  The  many  ladies  collected  toadstools  of  dif- 
ferent colors,  and  arranged  shields  or  other  trophies 
with  them;  one  or  two  of  them  slopped  with  water- 
colors  a  little ;  two  of  the  most  eager  collected  ferns 
and  pressed  them.  Miss  Anna  and  Mrs.  Bates  were 
good  botanists,  and  studied  grasses  successfully  and 
intelligently.  Miss  Jane  Tunstall,  who  was  the  least 
bit  strong-minded,  or  was  supposed  to  be  so,  was  rather 
the  admired  centre  of  the  women  of  the  company. 
This  was  because  she  kept  a  subscription  for  the  sum- 
mer at  Harper's  and  at  the  Seaside  Library,  and  so 
received,  almost  every  day,  two  new  novels.  Most  of 
them  were  wretched,  as  need  hardly  be  said.  For 
even  the  brave  nineteenth  century,  with  all  its  corre- 
lation of  forces,  has  devised  no  machinery  which  shall 
produce  more  than  ten  good  novels  in  a  year.  So  that 
four  thousand  and  nine  hundred  and  ninety  of  the 
year's  manufacture  must  be  bad,  most  of  them  very 


218  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

bad.  But  for  this  the  "  Boarders/'  as  Mrs.  Fairbanks 
called  them,  cared  but  little.  So  that  there  were  two 
heroes,  two  heroines,  a  difficulty  in  the  middle,  and  two 
weddings  at  the  end,  they  were  satisfied.  As  why 
should  they  not  be  ?  The  novels  cost  Miss  Tunstall 
but  fifteen  cents  each,  on  the  average,  and  cost  the 
Boarders  nothing.  For  Miss  Tunstall  left  them  all, 
for  general  use,  on  the  table  of  the  "sitting-room." 

"  And  who  did  you  find  at  the  Stage-house  ?  "  said 
Mrs.  Floxam  to  Jane  Fairbanks,  in  the  contemptuous 
tone  with  which  she  spoke  of  everything  excepting 
General  Cervantes  and  Northern  Mexico. 

Jane  Fairbanks  answered  cheerfully,  but  with  a 
sort  of  mechanical  cheerfulness,  that  she  found  the 
girls  of  her  own  Bible  class,  who  were  all  she  ex- 
pected, that  they  were  all  there,  and  that  they  had  a 
very  pleasant  hour  all  together.  Jane  Fairbanks  said 
this  cheerfully,  because  she  knew  that  Mrs.  Floxam 
would  have  been  pleased  had  no  girl  attended,  and  if 
she  had  gone  to  the  appointment  for  nothing. 

"  Of  course  they  came.  Poor  things,  I  suppose  they 
had  to  come.  I  did  not  mean  them.  I  meant  how 
many  were  in  the  reading-room,  and  how  many  were 
playing  cards,  —  I  believe  you  let  them  play  cards,  or 
you  will  some  day,  —  and  how  many  were  in  the  con- 
versation-room." All  this  was  said  with  a  sublime 
scorn,  because  these  places  were  not  "  patios  "  or  "  salas 
de  recreacion." 

Jane  Fairbanks  said  that  she  did  not  go  into  either 
of  these  rooms,  that  she  had  told  the  girls  to  meet 
her  in  the  anteroom  of  the  library,  and  that  she  had 
met  them  there.  But  Mrs.  Floxam's  bolt  had,  none 
the  less,  struck  home.  She  knew  it  had,  and  Jane 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  219 

Fairbanks  knew  it  had,  and  an  uncertainty  in  her 
voice,  as  she  made  her  reply,  showed  that  it  had. 

"  I  knew  no  one  would  go  to  your  Palace,"  said  Mrs. 
Floxam,  replying  to  the  quiver  of  tone  rather  than  to 
the  words.  "I  told  Mr.  Tangier  so,  and  I  told  Mrs. 
Dunster  so.  I  told  Mr.  Burdett  that  when  we  lived 
in  Mexico,  General  Cervantes  consulted  my  husband 
about  erecting  a  shed  where  the  cavalry  men  might  sit 
in  the  shade  when  they  played  with  their  jack-stones, 
and  Colonel  Floxam  told  him  it  would  not  answer. 
And  it  never  would  have  answered.  But  I  suppose 
Mr.  Tangier  wanted  to  throw  away  his  money,  and 
Mrs.  Dunster,  she  always  wants  somethiug  to  fool 
away  her  time  with,  so  they  have  got  what  they  want. 
Where  is  Mr.  Tangier  ?  " 

Some  one  explained  that  he  was  out  with  a  party 
who  had  started  early  on  quite  a  long  voyage,  hoping 
to  find  bluefish. 

"  Bluefish ! "  said  the  indomitable  Mrs.  Floxam. 
"  They  will  get  no  bluefish  to-day.  They  will  get  wet 
jackets,  and  they  will  be  lucky  to  come  home  with 
them.  If  Mr.  Tangier  was  not  so  heady  and  obstinate 
it  would  be  better  for  him.  To  go  out  in  the  teeth  of 
a  gale  after  bluefish  ! " 

Mr.  Stratton,  a  meek  little  freshman  from  Yale 
College,  who  had  arrived  only  the  day  before,  and  did 
not  yet  know  Mrs.  Floxam,  said,  because  no  one  else 
replied,  that  the  weather  report  was  favorable,  that  it 
promised  light  winds  from  the  southwest,  and  that 
this  was  just  what  the  fishermen  wanted. 

Mrs.  Floxam  looked  with  sad  pity  on  this  new  ad- 
venturer into  the  ocean  of  conversation,  and  then  ex- 
pressed her  contempt  of  the  Weather  Keports.  They 


220  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

were  always  wrong,  she  said.  When  the  telegraph 
was  first  established  in  Mexico,  General  Cervantes 
consulted  her  husband  on  the  question  whether  there 
should  be  any  arrangement  attempted  for  observations 
on  the  weather.  But  her  husband  had  wholly  dis- 
couraged General  Cervantes,  and  from  that  time  to 
this  there  had  been  no  Weather  Reports  in  Mexico. 
It  would  have  been  better  for  this  country  if  it  had 
followed  the  Mexican  example. 

Poor  little  Mr.  Stratton  said  no  more.  His  first  ex- 
periment was  a  sad  failure,  and  his  voice  was  not  heard 
again  for  twenty-four  hours. 

Mrs.  Floxarn,  with  a  certain  pride  in  her  victory, 
looked  up  and  down  the  table  in  search  of  new  ad- 
venture. It  would  not  be  right  to  say  that  she  was 
trying  to  think  what  was  the  most  disagreeable  thing 
she  could  say.  Jane  Fairbanks  would  have  given  this 
account  of  the  momentary  pause,  but  Jane  Fairbanks 
was  young,  and  so  was  not  fair.  Such  people  as  Mrs. 
Floxam  say  disagreeable  things  without  any  effort. 
They  are  so  accustomed  to  look  on  the  worst  side,  or 
the  blackest  side  of  everything,  that  if  they  speak 
what  is  in  their  thoughts,  they  must  say  something 
disagreeable.  They  would  be  much  surprised  if  they 
were  charged  with  conscious  effort  in  the  matter.  The 
truth  probably  is  that  utter  selfishness,  or  the  habit  of 
thinking  of  one's  self  only,  ends  in  a  habit  of  thinking 
with  contempt  and  dislike  of  all  things  else  or  all 
beings.  Then,  if  one  speaks  at  all,  one  speaks  with 
this  contempt  or  dislike.  Indeed,  such  a  person  must 
speak  so,  or  be  silent,  or  indeed  be  untrue. 

Now,  Mrs.  Floxam  never  chose  to  be  silent.  She 
liked  to  talk.  And  because  she  liked  to  talk  she  said 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  221 

disagreeable  things,  —  "from  native  impulse,  elemental 
force." 

But  she  was  not  on  this  particular  occasion  to  have 
her  own  way  absolutely.  That  is,  she  was  not  to  have 
all  the  talking.  Mrs.  Hasey  appeared  on  the  field  a 
little  late.  So  soon  as  her  plate  of  soup  was  brought 
to  her  and  finished  and  as,  with  the  refreshment  thus 
afforded,  she  was  able  to  engage  in  the  more  serious 
work  of  the  day,  she  took  up  the  wondrous  tale  of  life, 
which  she  always  approached  from  a  point  of  view 
different  from  Mrs.  Floxani's. 

"  Jane !  my  dear  child,  why  did  you  not  wait  for 
me  ?  I  got  talking  with  the  girls,  and  though  you 
know  I  never  say  anything,  they  lured  me  on,  and  I 
stayed  till  after  one.  You  should  have  come  and  called 
me." 

This  little  joke,  "  I  never  say  anything,"  was  one 
of  Mrs.  Hasey's  stand-bys. 

Jane  explained  that  she  supposed  Mrs.  Hasey  had 
come  home  long  before  her. 

"Well,  it  is  better  for  you  that  you  did  not  come 
in,  for  you  would  not  have  come  home  before  this 
time.  I  should  have  set  you  to  work,  as  I  did  them. 
I  always  set  people  at  work,  Mr.  Stringham."  This 
was  to  Mr.  Stratton,  who  had  been  presented  to  Mrs. 
Hasey  the  evening  before.  "  I  shall  set  you  at  work, 
unless  you  run  away.  Yes,  I  only  ran  in  for  a 
minute  to  see  Aunty,  and  to  ask  what  she  did  for 
chilblains." 

"  Chilblains  ! "  cried  Jane  Fairbanks,  "  surely  you 
have  no  chilblains  now." 

"  My  child,  when  you  are  an  old  woman,  you  will 
know  enough  to  prepare  for  war  in  time  of  peace. 


222  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

I  can  show  it  to  you  in  ^sop's  Fables.  Only  my 
jEsop  is  locked  up  and  stored  with  our  things  in 
Derne  Street.  No  matter,  dear.  I  went  to  see  Aunty 
Turner,  and  dear  Mrs.  Fairbanks  here  had  given  me  a 
couple  of  pies  for  her  —  " 

"No  matter  for  them,"  said  poor  Mrs.  Fairbanks, 
who  did  not  care  to  discuss  her  charities  before  the 
Boarders. 

"  —  and  while  I  sat  at  Aunty  Turner's,  —  that  is 
really  a  very  cosey  little  room  of  hers,  she  says  it  was 
once  the  place  where  the  bar-tender  sat,  and  where 
his  especial  favorites  came  in  and  played  poker  with 
him,  and  really,  Jane,  I  am  not  sure  but  just  the 
charm  and  attraction  of  the  wickedness  hangs  round 
the  place,  though  the  wickedness  is  gone  —  is  not 
that  interesting?  Well,  Aunty  had  brought  in  for 
herself  a  cup  of  tea,  and  she  opened  the  little  cup- 
board where  those  old  wretches  used  to  have  their 
private  tipple  of  Hollands  —  I  have  seen  them,  my 
dear,  you  need  not  laugh  —  and  she  made  a  very  nice 
cup  for  me.  Really,  your  Mr.  Tungy  must  have 
friends  in  the  India  trade.  He  has  provided  Aunty 
with  the  best  tea  this  side  Canton.  I  know  tea  if 
anybody  does.  It  is  almost  a  shame  to  waste  it  upon 
Aunty,  who  does  not  know,  but  I  do.  But,  well,  none 
of  you  know,  except  dear  Mrs.  Fairbanks,  whose  tea 
is  always  so  good." 

This  was  Mrs.  Hasey's  second  thought.  For  in 
truth,  if  there  were  a  weak  spot  in  Mrs.  Fairbanks's 
armor,  it  was  the  tea-hole ;  and  this  all  the  feminine 
boarders  knew  perfectly  well.  Mrs.  Hasey,  even, 
tripped  an  instant  on  her  own  white  lie,  and  thus  was 
brought  back  to  the  story  on  which  she  had  begun. 


MR.   TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  223 

"  While  I  was  sitting,  talking  about  winter  and 
chilblains  and  oiled  silk,  and  I  do  not  know  what 
else,  another  old  woman  caine  in,  as  old  as  I  am. 
You  need  not  laugh,  Jane,  there  are  old  women  as 
old  as  I  am,  and  I  hope  you  will  be  some  day." 

"  I  hope  I  shall,"  said  Jane,  boldly,  "  if  I  am  half 
as  nice  as  you  are." 

"  Well,  my  dear,  you  do  not  know  how  much  nicer 
I  was  when  I  was  nineteen.  This  other  old  lady,  — 
well,  I  think  perhaps  she  had  come  with  some  little 
comfort  for  Aunty.  I  found  she  had  not  seen  the 
house.  And  after  she  had  taken  Aunty  Turner  out, 
and  they  had  had  their  little  talk,  I  undertook  to  do 
the  honors.  That  was  when  I  looked  in  on  you  and 
your  German  class,  Jane." 

"  German !  dear  Mrs.  Hasey,  I  do  not  know  any 
German !  It  was  my  Bible  class.  We  were  reading 
the  book  of  Proverbs." 

"  Very  good  reading,  it  is,  dear  Jane,  and  I  hope 
you  will  make  them  commit  to  memory  the  thirty- 
one  verses  about  the  good  woman,  and  what  comes 
before  them.  Much  better  that  is  for  their  albums 
than  this  stuff  of  Swillburne's  and  Halt  Whitman's, 
Mr.  Stringham." 

Poor  Mr.  Stratton  blushed  to  his  eyes,  afraid  that 
his  verses  in  the  last  Yalensian  were  alluded  to. 

"Well,"  continued  the  monologue,  "I  am  never 
strong  about  names,  and  if  Aunty  Turner  knew  who 
this  was  she  did  not  tell  me,  in  introducing  her,  but 
all  the  same,  name  or  no  name,  we  went  all  over  the  ' 
house  together.  And  then  it  was  that  there  came  in, 
while  we  were  sitting  in  the  reading-room,  that  tired- 
looking  Mrs.  What's-her-name,  —  you  know,  Mrs. 


224  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

Sigfried,  she  gave  you  the  hymn-book  last  Sunday  ; 
they  live  in  the  house  with  a  big  chimney,  beyond 
the  duck  pond.  Yes,  that  is  the  woman  ;  she  stopped 
in  her  wagon,  coming  home  from  the  Junction,  to 
pick  up  her  girl,  Jane,  who  was  in  your  class.  And 
she  knew  my  friend,  or  seemed  to,  and  we  all 
three  fell  talking,  and  talking,  and  we  talked  till 
now. 

"  And  really  I  am  ashamed  to  tell  you,  but  I  prom- 
ised the  woman  that  has  no  name  that  I  would  come 
there  to-morrow,  with  your  tapestry  book,  Mrs. 
Meldrum,  if  you  will  lend  it  to  me,  to  start  for  her  a 
mantel  fringe.  She  had  tried  to  do  one,  and  had 
made  a  mess  of  it.  And  we  were  looking  at  that 
pretty  thing  which  one  of  the  girls  made  for  the 
reading-room,  and  I  told  her  that  with  that  for  a 
pattern  I  knew  I  could  show  her  how  it  was  done. 
In  fact,  I  told  her  that  that  was  what  old  women  are 
good  for." 

"  My  dear  Mrs.  Hasey,  do  you  know  what  you  have 
been  doing  ? "  said  Jane  Fairbanks,  with  an  air  of 
mock  surprise  and  curiosity. 

"  No  harm,  child,  —  I  have  done  no  harm.  I  have 
promised  Mrs.  What  's-her-name  to  teach  her  some 
stitches  in  crochet.  But  I  have  not  even  done  that. 
And  I  have  come  home  late  to  dinner.  But  your 
mother  is  so  good-natured  that  my  chop  is  a  little 
warmer  for  that,  so  I  shall  probably  sin  in  that  way 
again." 

"  Mrs.  Hasey  ! "  cried  Jane,  in  a  sepulchral  tone, 
"you  have  been  reconstructing  society." 

They  all  laughed,  for  it  was  quite  clear  that  Mrs. 
Hasey  had  been,  without  knowing  it,  inveigled  into 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  225 

the  drift  of  the  conspirators  who  had  founded  the 
Palace  of  Delight. 

"  You  may  make  all  the  fun  you  choose,"  said  she. 
"  I  shall  never  reconstruct  society.  I  shall  knit 
baldrequins,  or,  if  Mrs.  Meldrum  will  lend  me  her 
book,  I  shall  crochet  them.  Perhaps  I  shall  do  both. 
And  as  for  the  Old  Stage-house,  if  Mr.  Tunis  was  not 
all  the  time  fishing,  I  should  give  him  a  piece  of  my 
mind." 

Every  one  listened,  curious  to  know  at  what  de- 
ductions or  inductions  the  old  lady  had  arrived  'in 
her  morning's  observations. 

"  I  shall  tell  Mr.  Tunis  that  nothing  goes  unless 
there  is  a  driver.  You  girls  will  all  pile  into  the 
carry-all  this  afternoon,  but  Peg  will  not  start  till 
somebody  takes  the  reins  and  says,  '  Get  up,  Peg ! ' 
And  the  driver  must  not  go  a-fishing  every  day,  or 
every  other  day. 

"  Now  old  Aunty  Turner  has  never  succeeded  so 
well  in  making  her  own  home  comfortable  that  she 
will  make  other  people  comfortable.  She  cannot 
drive  this  wagon.  I  do  not  suppose  that  Mr.  Tunis 
means  to  leave  all  his  courts  and  lawyers,  and  clerks 
and  people,  and  come  and  live  in  the  Stage-house. 
But  somebody  must  live  in  the  Stage-house  that  has 
a  head  and  two  eyes  and  two  hands  and  two  feet. 
Now,  what  was  the  little  schoolmistress's  name?  I 
had  a  notion  that  if  she  were  there,  she  would  make 
things  bright  and  pleasant,  and  I  mean  to  say  so  to 
Mr.  Tunis ;  and  I  mean  to  say  to  him  that  all  that 
has  been  done  will  go  for  nothing,  and  will  be  remem- 
bered as  the  shadow  of  a  dream,  as  Dr.  Watts  says, 
or  somebody  else,  unless  there  is  a  captain,  and  I- 

15 


226  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

mean  to  propose  for  this  captain  the  little  school- 
mistress,—  if  she  had  any  name,  I  have  forgotten 
what  it  was." 

One  of  those  terrible  silences  fell  over  the  assem- 
bly that  will  come  when  exactly  the  wrong  thing  has 
been  said.  However  ready  all  these  people  were  to 
discuss  the  relations  of  Mr.  Tangier  and  the  little 
schoolmistress  when  they  were  in  separate  groups, 
none  of  the  different  groups  cared  to  state  their  views 
on  the  matter  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  company. 
What  was  known  was,  that  the  little  schoolmistress 
had  written  Mr.  Tangier  a  letter ;  what  the  letter  was 
about  nobody  knew.  What  was  also  known  was.  that 
Miss  Remington  had  left  Tenterdon,  and  seemed  to 
have  lost  all  interest  in  the  old  Stage-house  and  in 
the  reconstruction  of  society.  What  Mrs.  Dunster 
thought  nobody  knew,  though  many  people  guessed. 
The  general  impression  on  the  mind  of  everybody 
was,  that  Mr.  Tangier  had  been  flirting  with  May 
Remington,  as  he  never  should  have  done,  and  that 
he  had  been  flirting  with  the  little  schoolmistress,  as 
he  never  should  have  done.  But  all  that  was  known 
was  that  May  Remington  had  left  town,  and  that  the 
little  schoolmistress  had  sent  Mr.  Tangier  a  letter. 

Alas  !  the  mild  police  of  a  country  village  is  apt  to 
find  out  a  great  many  things  which  do  no  good  to  any- 
body ;  and  is  equally  apt,  like  other  detective  bodies, 
to  lose  the  clews  to  the  things  which  might  help  along 
the  world. 


MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS.  227 


CHAPTER  VII. 

EOKGE  DBUMMOND  had  left  Tenterdon  sick 
V_T  at  heart.  Yet  it  is  not  enough  to  say  that  he 
wished  he  were  dead ;  it  would  be  more  precise  to  say 
that  he  wished  he  had  never  been  born.  He  had  been 
struck  very  heavily,  and  he  could  not  guess  why.  But 
he  made  one  and  another  guess  which  had  no  reason- 
able foundation.  And  George  Drummond  had  sense 
enough  to  know  that  these  guesses  had  no  foundation. 
If  he  had  been  a  woman,  he  would  have  had  to  stay 
at  home  and  brood  and  cry.  As  he  was  a  man,  he 
had  to  do  his  duty  in  the  world,  just  as  if  he  had  not 
received  a  terrible  disappointment  the  night  before, 
which  would  change  his  whole  destiny.  He  could 
not  believe  that  the  ticket-seller  at  the  station  did 
not  know  that  something  had  happened  to  him.  He 
could  not  understand  why  the  boy  who  sold  news- 
papers offered  him  the  same  paper  which  he  would 
have  offered  him  a  week  before.  It  even  seemed 
strange  to  him  that  the  sun  shone  as  it  shone  yes- 
terday. But  he  had,  all  the  same,  to  go  to  New  York 
to  renew  the  contract  about  fresh  fish  which  he  and 
his  friends  made  with  their  agents,  or  refuse  to  renew 
it  and  to  make  a  new  contract.  Fish  would  swarm, 
and  nets  would  be  drawn,  and  ice  would  keep  the  fish 
cool,  and  the  trains  would  take  them  to  New  York, 
and  people  would  buy  them  and  eat  them,  whether 


228  MR.    TANGIER'S   FA  CATIONS. 

George  Drummond  were  happy  or  were  not  happy; 
indeed,  they  would  do  so  whether  he  lived  or  whether 
he  died. 

He  was  tempted  to  stop  over  a  day,  and  go  to  see 
his  mother.  No  misfortune  had  ever  happened  to  him 
in  life  but  he  had  done  so.  This  was  a  misfortune, 
however,  which  he  could  not  believe  that  even  she 
would  appreciate,  and  for  once  he  undertook  to  bear 
his  burden  alone,  and  to  do  without  the  support  which 
any  man  or  any  woman  gains  from  the  sympathy  of 
another ;  which  one  begins  to  gain,  indeed,  as  soon  as 
one  states  one's  trouble  in  words.  No,  George  Drum- 
mond went  on  to  New  York,  took  the  room  that  he  was 
in  the  habit  of  taking  at  the  little  private  hotel  on  a 
cross  street,  and  the  next  morning  went  down  to  see 
his  fish  people  as  if  nothing  had  happened. 

The  contract  was  not  to  be  renewed  exactly  in  the 
form  in  which  it  had  been  made  the  year  before. 
Times  change,  fish  change,  and  people's  tastes  change. 
All  this  George  Drummond  knew  when  he  came  to  New 
York.  He  knew,  too,  that  his  agents  respected  him, 
and  in  a  certain  sense  he  respected  them.  He  found, 
also,  to  his  surprise,  that  he  could  talk  about  fish  as 
well  as  he  ever  could,  and  that  a  certain  numbness, 
which  he  was  aware  of  as  he  walked  up  to  his  hotel 
and  back,  disappeared  as  soon  as  he  was  making  plans 
for  next  year's  work  and  adventure.  The  young  man 
of  whom  he  saw  the  most  at  the  office  was  a  person 
he  had  always  taken  to,  and  who  had  always  taken  to 
him.  It  was  impossible  for  them  to  complete  their 
arrangements  in  one  day  or  in  two ;  and  this  gentle- 
man asked  Drummond  one  afternoon,  a  week  after  his 
arrival,  if  he  would  not  go  up  and  spend  the  evening 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  229 

with  him  at  his  little  "box,"  as  he  called  it,  on  the 
Hudson. 

"  You  will  see  my  wife  and  children,"  he  said,  "  and 
that  will  be  better  for  you  than  trying  to  laugh  at 
Hart  and  Harrigan's.  It  is  pretty  hard  going  to  the 
theatre  in  the  middle  of  August." 

Drummond  accepted  the  invitation  as  cordially  as 
it  was  given,  and  thus  it  was  that  the  two  fell  into 
talk  more  wide  than  they  would  have  done  in  the 
counting-room,  where  every  moment  was  precious. 
The  visit  ended  in  a  proposal  which  the  New  Yorker 
made  to  Drummond,  which  really  suited  his  present 
mood  more  than  he  could  have  supposed  would  be 
possible. 

"  Why  should  not  we  recognize  what  is  ?  Why 
should  we  undertake  to  do  business  on  the  old  lines, 
when  there  are  new  lines  all  around  us  ?  Here  is  this 
Canada  row,  as  the  newspapers  call  it,  meaning  our 
row  with  the  provinces  of  Nova  Scotia,  New  Bruns- 
wick, and  the  rest,  which,  by  the  way,  are  hardly  Cana- 
dian. We  do  not  know,  nobody  knows,  what  our 
Government  will  do,  or  what  the  Dominion  of  Canada 
will  do,  or  what  England  will  do.  What  we  do  know  is, 
that  people  in  New  York  want  fish,  and  people  in  all 
parts  of  America  want  fish.  If  Americans  cannot  fish 
in  such  and  such  waters,  Canadians  can.  What  should 
you  say,  Drummond,  to  going  to  a  place,  which  I  will 
show  you  on  the  map,  and  establishing  yourself  there  ? 
What  should  you  say  to  owning  such  part  in  a  dozen 
vessels,  in  which  we  are  interested,  that  they  could 
go  and  come  as  yours  ?  What  should  you  say,  in  a 
word,  to  making  yourself  a  Blue  Nose,  in  partnership 
with  us  who  are  here,  if  I  could  make  such  a  proposal 


230  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

to  you,  —  well,  for  a  good  many  years  to  come,  —  as 
•would  please  you  as  to  terms,  partnership,  and  a  share 
in  the  profits  ?  " 

Drurnmond  listened  to  him  as  if  he  were  fascinated. 
He  had  time  enough,  and  he  had  habit  of  analysis 
enough,  to  be  amazed  and  amused.  A  fortnight  ago, 
had  such  a  proposal  been  made  to  him,  he  would  have 
said  it  was  the  most  absurd  suggestion  that  ever  was 
made.  It  was  made  to  him  now,  and  it  fell  in  with  all 
that  dismal  thought  of  his  on  the  ride,  and  every  day's 
walk  up  and  down  Broadway,  that  he  wished  he  were 
dead,  or  rather  that  he  wished  he  had  never  been  born. 
Here  was  the  other  life  which  he  had  half  asked  for  in 
his  prayers ;  here  was  a  life  with  no  Miss  Gurtry,  with 
no  fishing-gang,  with  no  Tenterdon,  with  nobody  who 
ever  saw  him  or  heard  of  him.  He  should  begin  all  over 
again,  as  completely  as  if  it  pleased  God  to  lift  him  out 
of  this  world  and  to  carry  him  to  the  planet  Mars. 

His  New  York  friend  was  accordingly  a  good  deal  sur- 
prised at  a  certain  feverish  eagerness  with  which  Drum- 
mond  replied  to  him.  Drummond  pressed  questions 
which  were  natural  enough,  but  it  looked  almost  as  if 
he  had  accepted  the  plan,  though  he  had  not.  They 
had  the  chance  of  the  long  ride  down  the  river,  and 
afterwards  on  the  Elevated,  to  talk  over  the  possible 
details  of  such  a  plan,  and  it  ended,  when  they  parted 
from  each  other  at  the  counting-room,  by  Drummond 
saying : — 

"Well,  you  see  I  am  interested.  Give  me  a  few 
days  to  turn  it  over.  Let  me  correspond  with  my 
friends,  and  I  will  see  if  any  of  the  boys  would  like  to 
go  with  me."  So  he  went  back  to  the  hotel. 

His  walk  up  Broadway  was  different  from  v/hat  it 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  231 

had  been  any  day  since  he  had  been  in  New  York. 
And  when  he  came  to  the  post-office  he  crossed  the 
street  and  took  the  Elevated  to  the  Park.  He  knew 
every  corner  of  the  Park  as  well  as  he  knew  the  walks 
in  Tenterdon  itself.  Such  is  the  great  hospitality  of 
the  great  metropolis  to  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
people  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  He  found  him- 
self a  quiet  nook  where  he  could  turn  the  whole  mat- 
ter over;  and  he  did  turn  it  over.  He  was  offered 
a  place  where  he  might  forget,  if  forgetfulness  were 
possible.  Of  course  the  poor  fellow  thought  that  for- 
getfulness was  not  possible ;  but  it  would  be  something 
to  live  where  he  was  not  reminded  of  old  days  in  every 
hour ;  and  it  would  be  something  to  live  without  see- 
ing Bessy  Gurtry  two  or  three  times  in  every  week.  In 
the  half-insane  chaos  of  a  man's  thought  in  such  a 
crisis,  it  was  not  very  likely  that  George  Drummond 
would  make  a  wise  decision.  But  his  good  angels  had 
not  wholly  deserted  him,  and  without  deciding  any- 
thing he  did  something,  and  this  something  was,  as  it 
proved,  the  right  thing.  He  took  out  of  his  pocket 
the  pocket  writing-case  which  he  always  carried,  and 
then  and  there,  sitting  on  that  shaded  bench  in  the 
Park,  he  wrote  to  his  mother  a  long  letter. 

It  was  a  pleasure  to  the  poor  fellow  to  open  the 
whole  story  of  his  hopes  and  his  disappointment.  It 
was  a  pleasure  to  tell  his  mother  how  he  first  knew 
Bessy  Gurtry ;  how  she  had  impressed  herself  upon 
the  whole  neighborhood  ;  how  he  had  been  surprised 
to  find  that  he  thought  of  her  in  every  minute  of  his 
work  and  of  his  life ;  how  he  had  thought  that  she 
had  at  least  a  certain  esteem  for  him.  All  this  was  a 
real  pleasure  to  write. 


232  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

To  this  had  to  be  added  the  miserable  story  of  the 
downfall  of  his  castle.  And  he  begged  his  mother  to 
understand  that  the  thing  was  final.  He  begged  her 
not  to  think  hardly  of  the  girl.  He  begged  her  to  think 
that  he  was  a  fool  himself,  and  that  he  never  ought 
to  have  pressed  so  far.  That  episode  was  over;  a 
curtain  had  fallen  on  that  play.  Now  he  must  take 
life  in  its  reality.  He  must  go  about  something  like 
a  man  who  does  not  expect  happiness  any  longer, 
but,  as  he  had  heard  somebody  say  when  he  did  not 
believe  it,  instead  of  happiness  he  must  seek  for 
blessedness.  His  mother  would  be  surprised,  but 
he  thought  he  must  go  into  exile ;  and,  just  at  the 
moment  that  he  thought  so,  exile  under  honorable  con- 
ditions was  offered  him.  Such  was  the  letter  which 
the  sensible,  tender,  unselfish,  far-seeing  woman,  who 
lived  from  day  to  day  in  the  hope  that  the  night's 
mail  would  bring  her  tidings  of  one  of  her  sons  or 
one  of  her  daughters,  —  such  was  the  letter  which 
she  was  to  receive  as  her  mail  came  in  on  Thursday 
evening. 

George  Drummond  could  not  have  chosen  a  wiser 
counsellor.  He  did  not  know  that  he  had  written  for 
counsel ;  but  as  it  proved  he  had.  His  mother  wrote 
him  the  tenderest,  kindest,  and  wisest  letter  in  reply. 
She  did  not  tell  him  that  it  would  break  her  heart  if 
he  went  off  among  the  fogs  and  the  icebergs ;  but  at 
the  bottom  of  her  heart  she  knew  it  would.  She  did 
not  tell  him  that  ten  thousand  other  men,  unknown  to 
him,  had  suffered  in  just  the  same  way  on  the  very 
day  in  which  he  suffered  so.  She  knew  this  was 
true,  but  she  was  his  mother,  and  she  was  too  kind 
to  tell  him  so.  She  wrote  to  him  as  he  wrote  to 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  233 

her,  as  if  this  were  such  a  calamity  as  had  never 
fallen  to  man  before.  She  did  not  say  to  him  that 
she  supposed  his  little  schoolmistress  was  a  wicked, 
foolish,  selfish  flirt,  though  she  did  think  so.  Most 
mothers,  receiving  such  a  letter  from  such  a  son, 
would  have  thought  so.  On  the  contrary,  she  wrote 
as  if  Bessy  Gurtry  were  the  noblest  woman  God  had 
ever  sent  into  this  world,  and  as  if  her  son  had 
honored  himself  by  his  regard  for  her. 

But  she  told  him  that  he  had  perhaps  surprised 
Miss  Gurtry ;  she  told  him  that  he  had  had  to  do  what 
he  had  never  done  before,  and  that  perhaps  he  had 
been  too  quick  or  too  slow ;  she  told  him  that  he  must 
not  risk  the  fortune  of  his  life  on  an  accident.  She 
asked  him  to  remember  how  often  in  novels  a  poor 
blunder  had  complicated  the  whole  thing,  because  no- 
body of  sense  advised  the  principal  parties  to  begin  all 
over  again.  "  Now,"  said  she,  "  your  poor  old  mother 
is  the  good  fairy.  I  tell  you,  before  you  decide  on 
any  great  change,  to  see  Miss  Gurtry  again,  and  to 
ask  her  to  reconsider  her  determination.  At  all 
events,  say  to  her  that,  if  she  do  not  reconsider  it, 
you  become  an  exile  from  your  own  country." 

These  words  she  wrote  with  an  aching  heart,  not  to 
say  a  breaking  heart,  though  with  a  firm  pen,  in  her 
own  regular  handwriting,  which  was  so  dear  to  her 
boy.  And  the  one  hope  which  this  poor  woman  had 
that  she  might  not  lose  her  boy,  was  her  hope  that  a 
foolish,  flirting,  selfish  girl,  as  she  imagined  his  peer- 
less queen  to  be,  might  be  glad  to  welcome  back  the 
lover  whom  she  had  played  with,  and  give  him  a 
chance  for  such  a  broken  life  as  he  would  spend 
when  married  to  such  a  woman. 


234  MR.  TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  business  of  George  Drummond's  exile  did 
not  proceed  as  rapidly  as  if  lie  liad  been  a 
Nihilist  on  his  way  to  Siberia.  Many  things  were  to 
be  considered  on  many  sides.  He  had  many  inter- 
views with  different  members  of  the  firm,  and  with 
other  advisers.  He  wrote  many  letters,  and  many 
answers  came  from  one  and  another  bay  between 
Anticosti  and  Eastport;  and  all  this  time  George 
Drummond  himself  had  the  recollection  of  what  his 
wise  and  kind  mother  had  said  to  him. 

At  last  it  seemed  quite  certain  that  what  had  been 
little  more  than  a  dream  between  the  two  young 
men,  as  they  talked  and  walked  together,  might  be 
wrought  out  into  a  plan  which  should  circumvent 
diplomatists,  and  overcome  international  difficulties. 
The  thing  came  to  so  nearly  a  point  of  action,  that 
George  Drummond  had  the  distinct  offer  made  to  him 
as  to  the  terms  on  which  he  should  enter  into  this 
new  partnership,  if  at  the  same  time  he  gave  up  his 
allegiance  to  the  United  States,  and  became  as  loyal 
a  subject  of  Queen  Victoria  as  that  other  loyalty  to 
the  Dominion  of  Canada  and  the  province  of  New 
Brunswick  might  imply.  Before  he  could  make  his 
decision,  he  told  his  friends  in  New  York  that  he 
would  see  some  of  his  old  companions  in  the  fish-gang 
at  Tenterdon,  and  that  he  would  give  them  a  distinct 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  235 

answer  within  a  fortnight.  And  so  he  bade  them 
good-by,  and  broke  up  this  visit  in  New  York,  which 
had  lasted  so  much  longer  than  he  or  any  of  his 
Tenterdon  friends  had  thought  possible. 

But,  strange  to  say,  instead  of  taking  the  express 
train  for  Wentworth  Junction,  which  would  have 
been  his  direct  route  to  Tenterdon,  he  took  a  ticket 
by  the  New  York  Central  and  its  more  western  con- 
nections. He  rode  by  night  and  he  rode  by  day. 
He  had  the  guidance  which  the  use  of  the  railroad 
guide  offers,  and  skilfully  studied  the  impossible 
rival  railroads,  each  of  which  made  its  own  line  per- 
fectly straight,  and  the  line  of  its  competitor  as 
crooked  as  the  letter  Z.  His  objective  point  was 
Tecumseh.  He  took  a  route  a  few  miles  nearer  to  it 
than  that  which  Miss  Gurtry  had  taken  some  weeks 
before,  and  he  found  a  conveyance  more  readily  than 
she  did.  He  made  his  way  to  the  Prophet  House, 
which  was  a  rather  decrepit  fourth-rate  hotel,  pre- 
tending to  be  something  that  it  was  not ;  he  registered 
his  name,  washed  and  dressed  himself,  and  then 
inquired  where  Mr.  Gurtry  was  to  be  found.  He 
found  John  Gurtry  was  perfectly  well  known,  and 
had  no  difficulty  in  making  his  way  to  the  room 
where  Bessy  Gurtry  had  found  her  father  on  her 
arrival ;  but  the  door  was  locked,  and  George  Drum- 
mond  sought  in  vain  for  an  answer  to  his  knock. 

He  then  by  one  and  another  excursion  found,  in  a 
somewhat  distant  kitchen,  a  woman  at  work  with  her 
clothes  in  her  wash-tub,  who  was  to  be  pardoned  for 
a  certain  slowness  of  apprehension,  as  by  misfortune 
she  was  nearly  deaf,  and  understood  only  with  the 
greatest  difficulty  the  questions  or  suggestions  that 


236  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

were  addressed  to  her.  All  that  could  be  learned 
from  her  was  that  Mr.  Gurtry  gave  up  the  room 
which  he  had  hired  from  her,  on  the  Monday  before, 
and  that  he  paid  his  rent  up  to  that  date,  as  he  had 
always  paid  it  regularly,  that  then  his  trunk  and 
his  daughter's  were  carried  to  the  same  tavern,  or 
"hotel,"  in  which  George  Druramond  had  established 
himself,  and  that  certain  boxes  had  been  sent  to  the 
freight  station.  Some  articles  of  furniture  had  been 
disposed  of  in  different  ways,  but  this  reader  need 
not  be  told  how,  as  this  is  not  a  strictly  realistic 
narrative.  In  short,  John  Gurtry  and  Miss  Bessy 
Gurtry  had  gone,  the  washerwoman  knew  not  whither. 
She  however  pronounced  an  encomium  upon  them 
both,  which,  in  a  dim  way,  gratified  the  heart  of 
Miss  Gurtry's  lover. 

He  returned  to  the  "  attentive  clerk "  at  the  hotel, 
or  to  the  very  stupid  and  indifferent  functionary  who 
united  the  duties  of  the  attentive  clerk  with  those  of 
porter,  hall-boy,  steward,  head  and  foot  waiter,  and, 
indeed,  every  other  branch  of  the  administration  of 
the  inn.  George  Drummond  found  this  functionary 
in  the  stable,  rubbing  down  a  horse,  and  with  some 
difficulty  brought  his  mind  back  to  the  fatal  Monday 
when  John  Gurtry's  trunks  and  Miss  Bessy's  were 
brought  to  rest  for  a  short  time  under  his  roof. 
What  became  of  the  trunks  then,  or  what  became  of 
their  owners,  he  neither  knew  nor  cared.  He  did 
not  pretend  to  know,  and  he  did  not  pretend  to  care. 
So  that  George  Drummond  was  left  to  pursue  his  in- 
quiries in  other  directions. 

He  was  not  a  fool ;  he  was  not  easily  discouraged ; 
and  he  understood  as  well  as  most  men  do,  the 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  237 

method  of  operation  of  the  mild  police  of  a  small 
town.  But  in  this  case  the  police  was  indifferent, 
and  did  not  give  him  what  the  newspapers  would  call 
"  available  clews."  That  is  to  say,  he  went  first  to 
the  grocer's  nearest  to  their  old  lodgings.  The  gro- 
cer's boy,  profoundly  interested  in  Bessy  Gurtry,  aud 
very  fond  of  her,  pretended  to  know  a  great  deal 
about  their  going,  but  only  knew  that  they  went  to 
the  same  railroad  station  which  George  Drummond 
had  come  from  that  morning.  He  went  to  the  apoth- 
ecary's, to  receive  a  great  deal  of  information  about 
John  Gurtry's  rheumatism  and  his  hay-fever,  on  the 
effect  which  Townsend's  Medicines  had  produced  on 
the  hay-fever,  and  similar  related  topics,  but  gained 
actually  not  so  much  information  there  as  he  had 
gained  at  the  grocer's.  The  apothecary,  however, 
was  able  to  tell  who  was  the  clergyman  who  would 
be  most  apt  to  know  what  their  plans  were,  but  was 
singularly  reticent  when  he  was  pressed  as  to  the 
names  of  their  intimate  friends.  He  gave  the  names 
of  two  or  three  lawyers,  and  two  or  three  store- 
keepers who  knew  Gurtry ;  but,  on  successive  visits 
to  each  of  these  men,  while  one  or  two  of  them  re- 
membered that  Gurtry  had  come  in  to  bid  them  good- 
by,  their  answers  were  to  the  last  degree  vague  as  to 
his  plans.  They  agreed  in  this,  —  that  he  was  going 
away  somewhere  with  his  daughter;  but  where  that 
somewhere  was,  —  whether  she  were  going  to  work  in 
the  mills,  as  one  man  thought,  or  whether  she  had 
accepted  the  position  as  principal  of  the  female  col- 
lege, as  one  man  thought,  it  was  impossible  to  say. 
Indeed,  where  the  mills  were,  or  where  the  female 
college  was,  were  points  left  entirely  unknown,  after 


238  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

the  most  careful  cross-examination  on  the  part  of 
George  Drummond.  At  the  end  of  an  afternoon  of 
vigilant  visiting  and  inquiry,  and  of  the  next  fore- 
noon spent  in  the  same  way,  he  found  that  the  last 
clews  had  run  out,  nowhere.  Indeed,  he  found  that 
the  clergyman  in  question,  on  whom  he  had  relied  the 
most,  was  absent  from  town,  and  would  be  for  the 
next  two  months,  on  a  vacation  which  had  been  given 
him  that  he  might  visit  a  son  who  was  mining  in 
Montana.  George  Drummond  had  made  a  journey 
of  a  thousand  miles  for  the  purpose  of  asking  Bessy 
Gurtry  whether  he  should  go  into  exile,  and  at  the 
end  of  the  thousand  miles  he  found  that  Bessy  Gur- 
try had  gone  into  exile  herself.  The  difference  was 
here :  that  he  knew  where  the  place  of  his  exile  was 
to  be,  and  no  one  seemed  to  know  where  the  place  of 
her  exile  was. 

He  could  see  the  amusing  side  of  the  position,  but, 
as  always  happens  with  the  actor  in  such  adventures, 
he  was  not  himself  amused.  Vainly  did  he  say  to 
himself,  "  How  funny  this  will  all  seem  a  year  hence, 
when  we  are  happily  settled  in  life,  and  can  look 
back  upon  it ! "  That  other  question  would  interpose, 
"  Will  it  seem  so  funny  if  I  find  myself  established  in 
Restigouche  Bay  and  am  broiling  my  own  salmon  ?" 

But  he  was  no  man  to  give  up  on  one  clay's  bluff. 
What  was  it,  after  all,  he  said  stoutly,  but  to  tele- 
graph to  Montana  ?  The  communication  from  Tecum- 
seh  by  telegraph  was  poor.  It  meant  the  confiding 
a  despatch  to  the  "  attentive  clerk  "  when  he  became 
the  driver  of  the  "  Prophet  Coach  "  when  that  coach 
went,  at  nine  in  the  evening,  to  the  Great  Northern 
Station.  Drummond  readily  saw  that  he  had  better 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  239 

be  his  own  Mercury.  He  carried  on  a  long  negotia- 
tion with  the  same  man  whose  broken  harness  had 
worked  John  Gurtry's  delay,  and  with  a  somewhat 
better  horse  drove  himself  across  a  prairie,  blazing 
with  autumn  asters  on  the  roadsides,  to  Centreville. 
Here  was  a  well-arranged  office  of  the  Western  Union, 
and  from  this  point  he  sent  this  despatch  to  the 
Rev.  Zenas  Kerfoot :  — 

"  Send  me  the  present  address  of  John  Gurtry.     Answer." 

He  left  word  that  he  would  call  for  the  answer  in 
person  the  next  day,  and  that  no  effort  need  be  made 
to  send  it  to  him.  "With  that  comfortable  feeling 
which  a  man  in  health  has  when  something  has  been 
done,  that  it  was  the  right  thing  to  be  done,  and  that 
nothing  else  can  be  done,  he  drove  back  through  the 
blazing  asters  more  cheerful  than  he  had  been  since 
Bessy  Gurtry  had  last  spoken  to  him.  He  permitted 
himself  to  build  up  again  the  card-house  which  that 
night  tumbled  down.  She  was  not  far  away.  Was 
she,  perhaps,  on  a  visit  in  this  very  Centreville  ? 
It  seemed  a  pretty  place.  Which  of  these  pretty 
houses,  shaded  with  maples,  was  her  aunt's  ?  Or 
was  there  no  aunt  ?  Was  she  a  teacher  in  that 
Female  Seminary,  of  which  he  had  passed  the  osten- 
tatious sign  just  before  ?  What  a  queer  Evangeline 
business  this  was,  if  he  were  passing  the  house  she  was 
in,  if  she  were  even  looking  out  of  the  window  with- 
out knowing  that  it  was  he  who  was  passing !  Ah 
me  !  If  she  did  know,  would  she  care  ? 

The  horse  was  a  better  horse  and  the  harness  a 
better  harness  than  John  Gurtry's  means  had  per- 
mitted the  day  he  brought  his  daughter  to  Tecumseh, 


240  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

No  accident  detained  George  Drummond.  And  with 
the  evening  he  found  himself  again  in  the  Prophet 
House.  It  was  clear  enough  that  he  had  no  more 
business  there.  And  his  last  night  had  been  so 
wakeful  that  he  might  well  hope  not  to  pass  another 
there,  even  in  the  "  best  room  "  of  that  establishment. 
He  knew  that  the  postmaster  would  return  to  the 
post-office  to  distribute  the  mail  when  the  Great 
Northern  bag  came  in,  and  he  rendered  himself  there 
to  receive  his  own  letters  from  New  York,  and  to  give 
instructions  for  any  which  might  follow.  Half  a 
dozen  other  men  waited  in  the  office  with  him,  most 
of  them  bearing  that  hopeless  look  of  men  who  are 
wishing  that  something  may  turn  up  for  them.  Such 
men  wait  for  the  mail  as  the  daily  drawing  of  a 
lottery.  It  may  announce  that  some  one  has  died  of 
whom  they  have  never  heard,  and  that  they  have  all 
inherited  fortunes.  True,  it  did  not  announce  this 
yesterday.  It  never  has  announced  this.  But  no  one 
of  them  has  anything  else  to  do.  It  may  announce 
this  to-night.  And  so  is  it  that  they  are  all  waiting 
at  the  Tecumseh  post-office. 

Drummond  waited  for  the  last  of  them,  took  his 
own  letters,  and  left  an  order  for  the  forwarding  to 
his  Tenterdon  address  of  any  letters  which  might 
come  after  he  had  left  Tecumseh.  He  read  this  order 
aloud  to  the  somewhat  stupid  girl  who  was  in  attend- 
ance, and  the  words  called  forward  the  postmaster 
himself,  John  Gurtry's  fortunate  successor  in  his 
office.  He  had  been  filling  a  blank  at  a  desk  in  the 
corner. 

"Be  you  the  man  who  asked  where  John  Gurtiy 
had  gone  ?  " 


MR.   TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  241 

Drummond  said  he  was. 

"  There  was  a  fellow  here  this  morning  said  he  had 
gone  with  his  gal  to  Auburn.  Said  he  had  a  sister 
there,  or  aunt,  or  something." 

Light  from  the  black  clouds !  Drummond  expressed 
his  gratitude.  Where  was  Auburn  ? 

"  Auburn  —  oh  !  don't  you  know  ?  "  This  with  a 
slight  expression  of  Western  scorn  for  the  tender-foot 
who  was  so  ignorant  of  a  central  point  in  geography. 
As  if  one  should  land  in  Greenwich,  and  inquire  for 
London,  or  at  Civita  Vecchia,  and  ask  where  Eome 
was.  Auburn,  it  seemed,  was  a  well-known  city,  not 
eighty  miles  away,  where  were  three  colleges,  two 
female  seminaries,  an  institute  or  two,  and  talk  of 
the  State  University.  The  postmaster  supposed  that 
Miss  Gurtry  was  "to  teach"  there  —  he  knew  she  had 
been  seeking  a  situation. 

Drummond  thanked  him  eagerly,  —  so  eagerly  that 
the  postmaster  supposed  him  to  be  some  near  friend 
or  relative,  and,  as  he  turned  away,  said,  "Be  you 
going  to  see  Gurtry  ?  " 

Drummond  said  he  was. 

"  Then  you  might  take  his  letters.  He  did  n't  leave 
no  orders,  but  if  you 's  going  it 's  a  pity  to  send  'm  to 
Washington." 

Drummond  assented,  hardly  knowing  what  he  did. 
The  postmaster  gave  him  two  copies  of  the  "  Scientific 
American  "  and  a  letter. 

It  was  not  till  he  packed  his  valise  at  the  hotel  that 
he  observed  that  the  letter  was  not  to»  John,  but  to 
Elizabeth,  Gurtry.  He  also  saw,  at  the  instant,  that 
it  was  in  the  handwriting  of  Mr.  Tangier,  which  he 

16 


242  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

knew  perfectly  well.  He  had  intrusted  himself  with 
the  business  of  carrying  to  his  mistress  a  letter  from 
his  rival. 

George  Drummond  slept  even  worse  that  night  than 
he  had  slept  the  night  before. 


MR.   TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  243 


CHAPTER  IX. 

TV  /TEANWHILE  it  must  be  admitted  that  the 
IV JL  Palace  of  Delight  at  Tenterdon  was  not  flour- 
ishing as  its  designers  had  wished  or  hoped.  How 
should  it,  indeed,  when  the  designers  were  not  watch- 
ing its  progress  ?  Four  weeks  and  more  had  drifted 
by  since  that  eventful  evening  of  the  dedication.  Of 
all  the  "conspirators,"  as  Miss  Kemington  used  to 
call  them,  Mr.  Tangier  only  had  held  the  ground  with 
any  constancy.  Even  he  had  been  once  and  again 
called  back  to  his  office.  George  Drummond,  as  the 
reader  knows,  had  never  seen  the  Palace  of  Delight 
since  that  night  of  its  blazing  fire-works,  which  had 
aspired  so  high  and  had  gone  out  so  suddenly.  Miss 
Gurtry,  who  built  the  first  sidewalk,  had  left  the  week 
after.  Miss  Remington  had  abridged  her  visit  in 
Tenterdon,  and  was  making  a  series  of  summer 
excursions.  Mrs.  Dunster  had  gone  to  the  White 
Mountains. 

Mrs.  Floxam's  sneers  seemed  to  rest  upon  some 
foundation.  Mr.  Tangier  was  obliged  to  confess  even 
to  himself  that  he  found  but  few  princes  of  the  Blood 
Royal  in  the  Palace,  no  matter  what  the  hour  at  which 
he  visited  it.  Aunty  Turner  even  had  been  heard  to 
complain  of  loneliness,  and  there  were  those  who 
hinted  that  she  looked  back,  with  a  sort  of  home- 


244  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

sickness,  to  the  little  old  house,  fifteen  feet  square, 
where  she  was  often  too  cold,  often  too  hot,  but  where, 
since  she  was  a  baby,  she  was  at  home. 

Was  the  New  Englander  unsocial  by  his  hereditary 
instinct?  Mr.  Tangier  asked  himself  this  question 
sadly. 

The  Iroquois,  or  Six  Nations,  lived  together  in 
immense  "phalansteries."  But  the  New  England 
Indian  of  Canonchet's  type,  or  of  Ninigret's,  lived  in 
his  separate  wigwam,  with  his  own  household.  Mr. 
Tangier  tried  to  remember  if  there  were  any  legend 
of  considerable  villages  of  Indians  in  the  peninsula 
which  is  called  New  England,  and  he  could  remember 
none.  Is  there,  he  asked  himself,  sadly,  some  astral 
influences  by  which  all  those  born  under  these  stars 
prefer  separated  roof-trees  for  their  long  winter  even- 
ings or  their  long  summer  twilights  ?  Then  he  en- 
couraged himself  as  he  could  by  recollecting  such 
crowded  bee-hives  of  industry  as  Lowell  and  Law- 
rence, and  Holyoke  and  Boston.  Still,  he  could  not 
but  remember,  at  the  same  time,  how  much  of  foreign 
blood  went  to  the  make-up  of  those  communities. 
And  then  he  recalled,  to  encourage  himself  as  best  he 
might,  that  the  fathers  always  began  the  formation 
of  a  town  by  building  the  "Meeting-house."  He 
whistled  "MacGregor's  Gathering"  as  he  walked  to 
his  supper  from  the  empty  Stage-house,  and  said 
aloud,  "  The  magic  word  is  '  Together.' " 

Mr.  Burdett  was  away  on  his  vacation.  The  doctor 
seemed  to  have  given  up  his  habits  of  visiting,  and 
Mr.  Tangier  had  to  find  his  comfort,  as  he  could,  from 
Mrs.  Hasey's  optimism,  Jane  Fairbanks's  willingness, 
and  his  own  determination  that  the  thing  should  go 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  245 

through.  All  the  same,  Mr.  Tangier  was  bored.  Per- 
haps it  would  be  too  much  to  say  that  he  was  annoyed, 
for  a  lawyer,  trained  to  defeat  as  he  is  trained  to  suc- 
cess, will  not  own  that  he  is  annoyed  by  failure.  But 
Teuterdon  no  longer  was  to  him  what  Tenterdon  was 
at  the  beginning.  In  the  first  place,  he  was  no  longer 
a  sick  man ;  there  was  not  the  fresh  bath  for  nerves 
and  brain,  and  indeed  for  his  whole  being,  that  he  had 
found  in  the  beginning.  He  said  to  himself  that  he 
liked  Mrs.  Fairbanks's  better  when  he  only  met  with 
her  and  her  daughter  than  he  did  now,  when  he  had 
to  go  through  with  the  daily  chatter  at  the  table.  He 
grew  tired  of  Mrs.  Hasey,  and  he  found  it  harder  and 
harder  to  hold  himself  back  from  being  rude  to  Mrs. 
Floxam,  in  retort  which  she  was  constantly  inviting 
by  her  own  steady  rudeness.  He  missed  the  society 
which  he  had  had  in  the  first  mouths  of  his  stay,  and 
he  seemed  to  have  no  gift  in  finding  new  society.  He 
said  to  himself,  as  a  philosopher,  that  he  ought  to  find 
Mr.  Stratton  a  pleasant  young  man,  that  he  ought  to 
like  to  go  after  huckleberries  with  these  children; 
but  he  was  well  aware  that  he  did  not  like  the  people 
around  him,  or  the  things  around  him,  as  he  had  felt 
sure  that  he  should  do  when  the  summer  began.  Yes, 
one  may  at  least  say  Mr.  Tangier  was  bored,  and, 
whether  he  would  have  said  that  he  was  annoyed  or 
not,  you  or  I  may  guess  that  he  was  annoyed. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  he  wrote  the  following 
letter  to  Dr.  Morton :  — 

DEAR  MORTON,  —  I  have  your  note,  and  sympathize  with 
your  hermit  life.  I  have  always  wondered  how  a  doctor  sur- 
vived the  three  months  of  loneliness  of  his  summer  practice. 
I  am  sorry  to  see  by  the  papers  that  you  have  enough  to  do  ; 


2-1G  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

but  unless  you  poor  medical  men  meet  every  night  to  discuss 
the  qualities  of  paregoric  and  Hamlin's  Mixture,  I  do  not 
know  how  you  can  occupy  yourselves  iu  the  absence  of  your 
wives  and  daughters,  of  theatre  and  opera  and  club,  and 
everything  else  that  goes  to  the  make-up  of  every-day  life. 
I  wish  I  dared  say  that  you  would  find  my  kingdom  of  heaven 
any  more  heavenly  than  your  own ;  but,  to  tell  you  the  truth, 
I  am  badly  bored  here.  The  people  I  liked  most  have  gone 
away,  and  the  new  people  are  not  worth  the  enthusiasm  by 
which  I  tried  to  welcome  them.  I  have  lived  through  the 
charm  of  the  novelty,  and  am  beginning  to  wonder  whether 
my  Grandmother  Fletcher  was  right  when  she  said  "  Country 
folks  is  fools." 

Somehow  my  new  plans  do  not  work  as  well  as  you  and  I 
thought  they  would  work  when  we  were  sitting  at  poor 
Grace's  that  day.  If  you  have  in  your  books  any  tonic  or 
other  elixir  which  will  start  a  broken-down  Palace  of  Delight 
into  life  and  energy,  be  good  enough  to  send  down  the  recipe 
by  telegraph,  and  we  will  apply  it  immediately.  Or  perhaps 
you  could  come  yourself.  I  am  hand  in  glove  with  a  country 
doctor  here  who  would  do  your  heart  no  end  of  good.  I  ven- 
ture to  say  that  he  would  teach  you  a  great  many  things  that 
you  never  learn  in  Paris;  anyway,  he  would  make  you  respect 
your  kind  more,  for  I  declare  to  you  that  I  think  that  this 
compassing  sea  and  land,  as  he  rides  up  and  down  these 
country  roads,  merely  to  carry  with  him  health  and  life  and 
new  spirit,  is  the  finest  exhibition  of  concrete  Christianity. 
Sometimes  he  lets  me  go  with  him,  and  they  are  the  best 
days  I  have;  but  of  late  either  he  is  tired  of  me,  or  his  calls 
are  too  far  off,  or  he  has  some  other  companion.  You  will 
see,  therefore,  that  I  am  somewhat  bored,  and  a  great  deal 
alone. 

Observe  that  the  question  is,  What  is  to  be  done  in  a 
community  of  people  who  like  each  other  well  enough,  but 
who  will  not  any  of  them  go  quite  half-way  for  the  pur- 
pose of  joining  hand  and  life  with  each  other? 

Always  yours,  T. 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  247 

It  is  no  matter  of  surprise,  then,  that  Mr.  Tangier, 
on  the  second  day  after  he  wrote  this  letter,  having 
received  a  cordial  invitation  from  an  old  college  friend 
to  join  him  in  his  yacht,  on  a  cruise  which  might  go 
to  Campobello,  which  might  indeed  go  as  far  as  the 
Grand  Banks,  accepted  the  sudden  invitation  with 
a  sort  of  glee  which  surprised  himself,  and  that  he 
disappeared  from  Tenterdon  in  the  midst  of  the 
speculations  of  the  natives  and  the  foreigners  of 
that  community. 

The  reader  will  see  that  Mr.  Tangier  was  in  that 
condition  of  an  inventor,  who,  having  perfected  his 
model,  and  made  it  work  entirely  to  his  mind,  has 
sent  it  to  the  Patent-office,  and  has  been  told  in  a 
formal  letter  that  the  patent  will  be  issued  to  him 
on  such  and  such  a  day.  He  has  no  questions  to 
answer,  no  investigations  to  make.  He  has  done 
what  he  could  do,  and  he  is  waiting  for  the  world 
to  pass  approval.  Or  you  may  say  Mr.  Tangier  was 
in  the  position  of  the  artist  who  has  finished  his 
picture  for  the  Salon.  It  has  gone  to  the  man  who 
had  to  frame  it,  the  framer  has  sent  it  to  the  com- 
mittee, the  committee  has  approved  it,  and  has  hung  it 
upon  the  wall,  and  now,  that  the  artist  waits  to  see 
what  the  public  will  say  about  it,  he  finds  it  very  hard 
to  direct  any  interest  to  a  new  picture.  If,  at  the  same 
time,  all  the  artist's  friends  go  away,  for  some  myste- 
rious reason  or  another,  and  he  finds  himself  all  alone 
in  his  studio,  he  is  in  much  the  same  position,  socially 
and  personally,  in  which  poor  Mr.  Tangier  found  him- 
self after  the  dedication  of  the  Palace  of  Delight. 

As  for  Miss  Kemington,  she  had  rather  unexpectedly 
remembered  this  series  of  summer  engagements,  as  she 


248  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

pleased  to  call  them  to  her  aunt,  —  it  is  fair  to  say, 
rather  unexpectedly  to  herself.  She  had  joined,  as 
the  reader  may  have  seen,  in  the  efforts  for  the  Palace 
of  Delight,  with  a  genuine  hearty  enthusiasm.  She 
had  had  the  same  satisfaction  which  Mr.  Tangier  had 
had,  —  what  Lord  Houghton  calls  "the  joy  of  event- 
ful living,"  —  while  they  were  making  all  the  arrange- 
ments, and  while  she  was,  so  to  speak,  the  chief  of  his 
staff  in  the  making.  The  summer  days  had  flown  by 
while  they  were  planning  for  carpets  and  lambrequins 
and  book-shelves  and  writing-tables  and  stationery,  and 
all  the  things  which  were  to  be  so  useful  and  attractive 
in  the  people's  club  house.  Miss  Kemington  had  cer- 
tainly not  analyzed  her  feelings  while  these  things 
were  going  on.  She  had  simply  waked  every  morn- 
ing to  the  consciousness  that  there  was  something  to 
do,  and  enough  to  do,  and  she  had  done  it  with  good 
heart  and  with  good  spirit.  She  was  not  in  the  habit 
of  analyzing  her  life,  or  asking  questions  why  it  had 
been  a  pleasant  one.  She  was  a  girl  of  quite  too  much 
sense  not  to  take  the  present  as  she  found  it,  and  to 
think,  as  well  as  she  could,  for  the  immediate  future. 

But,  as  the  reader  may  have  guessed,  she  also  found 
a  certain  deadness  in  her  personal  experience  when  the 
thing  was  done  for  which  they  had  all  been  striving, 
and,  without  asking  herself  what  was  to  come  next, 
she  was  willing  to  acknowledge  that  life  in  Tenterdon 
was  not  what  it  had  been  for  the  six  weeks  before. 
She  certainly  did  not  acknowledge  to  herself  that  one 
element  in  her  dissatisfaction  arose  from  a  certain  dis- 
trust of  the  companion  with  whom  she  had  been  most 
engaged  as  those  six  weeks  went  by.  Miss  Kemington 
was  no  such  fool  as  to  suppose  that  Mr.  Tangier  was 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  249 

particularly  attached  to  her  because  lie  had  made  use 
of  her  hand  to  write  for  him  when  his  was  lame,  or 
because  he  had  addressed  to  her,  from  his  office  in  the 
city,  a  dozen  letters  about  tassels,  and  carpets,  and  cur- 
tains, and  other  furniture.  She  would  have  been  angry 
to  the  last  degree  if  Jane  Fairbanks  and  Mrs.  Floxarn 
had  ventured  to  intimate  that  Mr.  Tangier  had  been 
flirting  with  her,  or  that  she  had  been  flirting  with 
him,  —  if  any  of  them  had  had  the  daring  to  convey 
to  her  any  such  intimation,  which  they  were  free 
enough  in  suggesting  to  each  other.  None  the  less, 
however,  was  Miss  Remington  annoyed,  on  the  night 
of  the  ride  home  from  the  Palace,  and  in  the  gossip 
of  the  next  day  or  two,  when  the  whole  village,  with 
one  accord,  pronounced  that  Mr.  Tangier  was  making 
a  fool  of  Bessy  Gurtry,  and  even  went  so  far,  in  some 
of  its  myriad  voices,  as  to  announce  that  Bessy  Gurtry 
was  making  a  fool  of  him.  May  Eemington  was  far 
too  just  and  well-poised  a  girl  to  do  any  injustice  to 
Miss  Gurtry.  She  liked  Miss  Gurtry,  and  Miss  Gurtry 
liked  her,  though  they  were  by  no  means  intimate. 
There  was  a  certain  shyness  about  Bessy  Gurtry  which 
did  not  permit  her  to  be  very  intimate  with  any  one. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  was  a  certain  frankness, 
amounting  almost  to  audacity,  about  Miss  Kemington, 
which  led  her  to  claim  rather  more  than  she  ordinarily 
found  in  the  people  who  were  around  her,  and  in  the 
same  proportion  restricted,  and  restricted  very  severely, 
the  number  of  persons  who  would  venture  to  say  that 
they  were  very  intimate  with  her.  So,  though  she 
and  Miss  Gurtry  had  met  each  other  almost  every  day 
in  some  of  the  recent  arrangements  for  the  Palace  of 
Delight,  they  had  never  come  even  near  the  point  in 


250  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

which  they  should  call  each  other  "May"  and  "Bessy." 
It  was  still  "Miss  Remington"  and  "Miss  Gurtry," 
and  "  Miss  Remington  "  and  "  Miss  Gurtry  "  it  would 
long  be.  Yet,  though  they  were  by  no  means  intimate, 
or  maintained  any  of  the  forms  of  tenderness  with 
each  other,  May  Remington  liked  Miss  Gurtry  with 
a  very  solid  esteem  and  respect.  She  had  said  to  her 
aunt  a  dozen  times  that  a  girl  like  that,  who  was  earn- 
ing her  own  living,  and  was  able  to  do  something  for 
a  father  who  was  far  away,  was  a  person  of  a  great 
deal  more  account  in  the  world,  and  deserved  a  very 
much  higher  place  in  the  circles  in  which  Beatrice  sits 
so  high,  than  a  girl  like  herself,  who  was  leading 
merely  an  ornamental  life,  was  manufacturing  a  set 
of  duties  for  herself,  and  who,  as  one  of  the  gentle- 
men had  said,  could  not  earn  five  dollars  a  week  by 
any  service  which  she  could  render  to  society  in  any 
of  its  demands.  Her  aunt,  who  believed  in  her  thor- 
oughly, and  was  passionately  fond  of  her,  would  con- 
trovert this  assertion,  and  would  even  scold  her  for  it, 
as  if  it  were  a  bit  of  mock  modesty ;  but  Miss  Reming- 
ton was  really  sorry  that  circumstances  had  so  placed 
her  in  this  world  that  she  had  not  to  fight  any  battle 
for  herself.  That  means  that  she  was  sorry  that  she 
had  a  father  who  idolized  her,  a  mother  and  three  or 
four  brothers  who  loved  her,  as  much  money  as  she 
wanted  to  spend,  —  within  reasonable  limits,  —  and 
nothing  to  do,  as  she  said,  but  to  make  a  fool  of  her- 
self, and  wish  that  the  hours  might  go  by.  She  re- 
spected Miss  Gurtry,  and  hoped  that  they  should  see 
more  and  more  of  each  other. 

For  her  to  be  told  by  anybody,  then,  that  Mr.  Tangier, 
whom  she  also  respected,  whom  she  respected   very 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  251 

thoroughly,  and  whose  purposes  she  thought  she  un- 
derstood,—  that  he  and  Miss  Gurtry  had  been  carry- 
ing on,  under  the  rose,  what  Jane  Fairbanks  called  a 
flirtation,  this  irritated  May  Remington.  Perhaps 
she  did  not  know  how  much  it  irritated  her.  She 
did  know  that  on  Mrs.  Floxam's  interrogatories  on 
the  subject,  addressed  to  her  personally,  as  they  met 
in  walking  one  day,  she  fired  up  with  rage,  and  al- 
most lost  herself  so  far  as  making  a  tart  reply.  She 
said  to  her  aunt,  when  she  came  home,  that  she  al- 
most bit  her  tongue  out  in  order  to  keep  silence,  and 
this  is  probably  literally  true.  It  was  after  this  that 
she  came  down  to  breakfast,  announcing  that  she 
was  going  to  make  a  visit  with  an  old  schoolmate, 
who  had  asked  her  to  come  to  Pomfret,  and  if  she 
could  persuade  her  to  join  in  the  party  she  should  go 
to  Mount  Mansfield  with  the  Appalachian  Club  on  an 
excursion  which  that  club  had  projected  for  the  ex- 
ploration of  that  mountain. 

It  seemed  necessary  to  say  this,  that  the  reader 
might  understand  the  social  position  of  the  Tenterdon 
to  which  Mr.  Drummond  was  returning,  after  his 
fortnight  for  decision  was  nearly  ended. 


252  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER  X. 

ME.  DEUMMOND  had  very  foolishly  taken  it 
for  granted  that  the  unknown  counsellor  who 
had  told  the  postmaster  that  Auburn   was   the  new 
home  of  Mr.  Gurtry  and  his  daughter,  knew  what  he 
was  talking  about. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  we  take  a  thing  for 
granted  when  it  is  told  us  at  second  or  third  hand, 
which  we  should  not  believe  for  a  moment  if  we 
heard  it  from  the  lips  of  the  person  who  first  made 
the  assertion.  In  this  case,  Mr.  Drummond  had  been 
so  much  discomfited  by  the  expression  of  scorn  which 
followed  his  inquiry  where  Auburn  was,  that  he  had 
supposed  that  his  informant  was  as  well  informed  on 
all  other  matters  relating  to  this  affair  as  he  was  on 
the  point  of  geography.  He  went  back  to  his  dis- 
agreeable quarters  with  the  fixed  determination  that 
he  would  go  to  Auburn  as  soon  as  the  morning  train 
would  carry  him  there.  When  he  arrived,  as  has 
been  told,  he  found  that  he  had  to  carry  with  him  a 
letter  which  he  wished  might  be  at  the  bottom  of  the 
sea.  But  he  did  not  change  his  plan.  He  bade  the 
stable-keeper  send  him  over  to  Centreville  the  next 
day,  and  from  Centreville  proposed  to  take  his  de- 
parture to  the  seat  of  these  various  seminaries  and 
colleges. 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  253 

He  was  not  so  certain,  however,  when  morning 
came,  with  its  colder  suggestions,  but  that  he  went 
to  the  telegraph  office  to  find  what  was  the  answer 
of  the  travelling  clergyman.  In  this,  however,  there 
was  nothing  encouraging ;  there  was  simply  an  office 
despatch,  which  said  that  no  such  person  could  be 
found  as  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kerfoot.  Drummond  was  now 
comparatively  indifferent ;  he  had  not  to  wait  for 
Montana  to  send  him  upon  his  way;  he  had  merely 
to  go  to  Auburn  and  meet  his  fate  like  a  man.  The 
never-failing  railway  guide  gave  him  the  information 
he  needed,  and  between  three  and  four  in  the  after- 
noon, after  many  transfers  which  were  not  close  con- 
nections, he  found  himself  in  the  university  town. 

Here,  as  before,  obedient  to  the  laws  of  what  we 
have  ventured  to  call  the  mild  police  of  such  places, 
he  inquired  at  the  post-office  if  any  person  of  the 
name  of  Gurtry  had  asked  for  letters.  His  first  dis- 
appointment was  in  finding  that  the  name  was  wholly 
unknown.  It  then  occurred  to  him  that  if  this  Mr. 
John  Gurtry  were  as  dreamy  and  unpractical  a  per- 
son as  he  had  begun  to  infer,  he  might  have  neglected 
to  ask  for  letters,  by  the  same  law  by  which  he  had 
neglected  to  give  directions  for  their  being  forwarded. 
His  next  step  was  to  inquire  at  the  various  inns  and 
hotels  of  the  place,  of  which  there  were  not  many,  if 
any  such  persons  as  Mr.  John  Gurtry  and  his  daughter 
had  arrived  there  in  the  week  before.  To  this  ques- 
tion his  answers  were  equally  unsatisfactory.  He 
did  not  permit  himself  to  be  discouraged,  however. 
In  fact,  the  zest  of  a  search  did  him  good,  after  the 
stupidity  engendered  by  the  long  journey.  He 
ordered  a  carriage,  Avith  a  driver,  to  take  him  from 


254  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

point  to  point,  and  began  a  series  of  inquiries  at  the 
seminaries  and  colleges,  winding  up  with  the  insti- 
tutes. The  seminaries  were  "female  seminaries," 
and  the  colleges  and  institutes  were  conducted  on  the 
principle  of  co-education.  Both  of  the  colleges  were 
quite  out  of  the  village;  one  of  the  seminaries  was 
two  miles  away. 

Ulysses  did  not  meet  more  fascinating  Circes  in 
ten  years,  or  Calypsos  less  fascinating,  than  Mr. 
Drummond  met  in  the  several  institutions  of  learn- 
ing which  he  visited.  He  found  each  seminary  some- 
what jealous  of  each  other,  and  very  ignorant  as  to 
the  other's  affairs.  But  each  seminary  and  each  in- 
stitute was  equally  certain  that  no  such  person  as 
Bessy  Gurtry  was  within  its  own  walls,  or  ever  had 
been  expected  within  its  walls.  Indeed,  there  was  gen- 
erally a  certain  air  of  cold  reproof  observable  in  the 
manner  in  which  this  news  was  conveyed  to  Dram- 
mond,  as  if  his  mistake  on  the  matter  involved  a 
certain  moral  obliquity,  for  which  any  man  of  char- 
acter should  be  ashamed.  After  each  interview  he 
had  to  shake  himself  together,  to  be  quite  sure  that 
he  had,  indeed,  done  nothing  so  far  Avhich  was  dis- 
graceful. Auburn  ended,  though  it  were  the  loveli- 
est village  of  the  plain,  as  Tecumseh  had  ended,  — 
there  was,  very  certainly,  no  Bessy  Gurtry  there. 

He  came  to  this  conviction  late  in  the  evening, 
as  the  tired  horse  stumbled  back  to  the  Auburn  Hotel. 
He  went  to  bed  wondering  at  his  own  readiness  to 
be  deceived  as  lately  as  the  morning  of  that  day. 
With  the  next  morning  he  repaired  again  to  the  post- 
office,  and  examined  for  more  geographical  light  the 
postmaster's  register.  It  was  only  to  learn  that  there 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  255 

are  forty-four  different  Auburns  in  the  United  States ; 
one  in  Arkansas,  one  in  Alabama,  three  in  Illinois, 
and  so  on.  A  cyclopaedia  in  the  Christian  Associa- 
tion reading-rooin  showed  that  many  of  these  were 
the  seats  of  academies  or  high  schools.  Clearly,  even 
the  most  intrepid  lover  must  falter  before  so  many. 
Certainly  Mr.  Drummond  must  not  attempt  them, 
for  he  had  only  nine  days  left  now,  for  the  forty-three 
of  which  he  knew  nothing. 

No !  For  him  the  thing  is  to  do  what  he  should 
have  done  first.  He  must  go  back  to  Tenterdon,  to 
start  thence  anew.  There  must  be  people  there  who 
will  know  ! 

Day  and  night,  therefore,  night  and  day,  he  rushed 
back,  or  was  rushed  back,  eastward,  into  the  same 
frenzied  haste  in  which  he  had  come  westward.  True, 
it  seemed  as  if  the  hours  would  never  go  by.  But 
they  did  go  by.  And  at  last  the  express  faltered  a 
little  —  faltered  more  —  "  it  is  surely  stopping  — 
yes,  it  stops,"  and  the  conductor  calls  "Wentworth 
Junction." 

It  was  two  hours  after  sunset.  Drummond  felt  his 
steps  carefully  as  he  left  the  rear  of  his  car,  almost 
stumbled  upon  a  man  who  was  descending  from  the 
next  platform,  and  started  as  he  saw  that  it  was  Mr. 
Tangier. 

The  yacht  had  been  becalmed  off  Corlies  Head  and 
Mr.  Tangier  had  been  set  on  shore  there. 

Both  men  were  surprised.     They  even  laughed  and 

shook  hands.     A  moment  after,  in  the  lantern  light, 

•another  man,  who  seemed  confused,  asked  them  some 

question,  and  when  Mr.  Tangier  in  answer  turned  to 

guide  him    and  to   explain,    it  proved    he    was  in 


256  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

turn  wishing  to  help  from  the  steps  of  yet  another  car 
a  young  woman  who  was  Bessy  Gurtry.  This  time 
Mr.  Tangier  left  to  George  Drummond  the  duty  of 
caring  for  her.  As  he  himself  led  her  father  to  the 
great  heap  of  trunks,  which  were  already  piled  upon 
the  platform,  the  two,  in  the  deceptive  lantern  light, 
joined  another  lady  who  was  holding  out  her  check 
for  inspection.  She  turned  and  said :  — 
"  Mr.  Tangier  ?  " 

"  Indeed  !  is  it  you,  Miss  Remington  ?  " 
Yes,  it  was  Miss  Kemington.  In  the  mysteries  of 
palaces,  and  sleeping-cars,  and  parlor-cars,  and  cars 
not  palaces,  the  five  had  ridden  together  for  the  last 
hour  or  more,  and  had  not  known  how  near  they 
were  to  each  other.  George  Drummond's  friends  had 
sent  one  wagon  across  for  him.  Mrs.  Dunster  had 
sent  over  her  carriage  for  her  niece.  And  in  these 
two  conveyances  the  five  must  make  their  way  to 
Tenterdon. 


MR.   TANGIER'S  VACATIONS.  257 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  situation  was  complicated  and  to  the  last 
degree  delicate.  George  Drummond,  with  the 
accurate  knowledge  of  a  native,  had  telegraphed  to 
one  of  his  friends  of  the  fishing-gang  that  he  was 
coming,  and  Nahum  had  been  sent  over  to  the  Junc- 
tion from  Tenterdon  to  take  him  and  his  traps  home. 
Here  was  one  carry-all,  which,  if  people  were  good- 
natured,  would  seat  three  of  the  travellers.  Mrs. 
Dunster  had  sent  over  her  carriage,  with  Kebus,  the 
"  hired  man,"  who  directed  her  destinies.  Two  could 
sit  within,  and,  if  necessary,  one  could  crowd  in  on 
the  seat  with  Rebus,  with  the  baggage.  Six  seats  for 
five  travellers.  But  how  were  these  travellers  to  be 
arranged  ?  Mr.  Tangier  had  left  the  becalmed  yacht 
unexpectedly,  at  a  little  cove,  which  gave  him  as  few 
opportunities  of  telegraphing  as  Leif  had,  the  first 
time  when  he  sailed  up  the  waters  of  the  Back  Bay. 

It  was  a  delicate  question,  and  was  the  more  diffi- 
cult because  there  was  no  one  of  the  five  travellers 
who  wanted  to  take  the  responsibility  of  decision. 
Mr.  Tangier  did  not  want  to  invite  himself  to  ride 
home  with  May  Kemington  in  Mrs.  Punster's  carriage. 
He  felt,  rather  than  knew,  that,  in  Mrs.  Punster's 
bearing  toward  him  in  the  two  or  three  weeks  since 
the  party  had  broken  up,  there  had  been  a  certain  cold- 
ness. He  had  set  down  that  coldness,  as  men  will, 

17 


258  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

to  that  general  account  of  "Profit  and  Loss"  which 
they  head  "  Women's  Ways,"  an  account  which,  on  the 
whole,  stands  them  well  in  stead,  so  that  they  do  not 
grumble  so  much  because  it  is  wholly  inexplicable  to 
them,  and  because  they  sometimes  have  to  charge  to  it 
great  misery  and  misfortune.  Mr.  Tangier  would  not 
offer,  himself,  to  ride  home  with  Rebus,  nor  would  he 
suggest  that  Miss  Gurtry  should  ride  with  May  Rem- 
ington. Indeed,  he  pretended  to  be  occupied  with  the 
station-master,  and  to  be  making  some  inquiries  about 
freight  expected  for  the  Old  Stage-house.  As  for  John 
Gurtry,  he  had  never  in  his  life  proposed  any  course 
of  conduct  in  a  difficult  exigency.  That  was,  indeed, 
exactly  what  John  Gurtry  could  not  do.  And  here  in 
a  foreign  land,  stranded  like  Robinson  Crusoe  on  the 
beach  of  an  unknown  station,  with  the  hiss  and  steam 
of  the  receding  tide  announcing  to  him  that  his  fate 
was  irrevocable,  John  Gurtry  was  the  last  person  in 
the  world  to  solve  any  problem. 

As  for  George  Drummond,  as  the  reader  knows, 
he  would  have  been  glad  to  take  Bessy  Gurtry  in  his 
arms,  and  say  to  her  :  "  Dear  child,  let  me  carry  you 
wherever  you  like  to  go.  We  will  leave  all  these 
people  and  places,  and  I  will  carry  you  to  a  home  of 
my  own.  There  I  will  watch  over  you  and  defend 
you  from  all  evil.  You  shall  eat  of  the  best,  you  shall 
look  out  upon  the  grandest  prospect,  you  shall  read 
from  the  most  charming  books,  you  shall  paint  the 
most  beautiful  pictures,  and  all  you  shall  have  to  do 
shall  be  to  love  me  truly."  This  is  what  George 
Drummond  would  have  said  in  a  genuine  romance. 
And  it  is  because  the  George  Drummonds  of  another 
day  said  such  things,  and,  what  is  more,  because  they 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  259 

could  and  did  take  their  Miss  Gurtrys  in  their  arms 
and  walk  off  with  them  into  the  forest,  —  because  of 
this  is  it  that  the  romances  of  Amadis  and  Huon  and 
Esplandian  are  as  good  reading  as  they  are.  In  a 
parenthesis  it  may  be  added  that  because  the  heroes 
of  to-day  do  not  do  such  things,  nor  say  them  very 
much,  is  it  that  such  stories  as  this  in  the  reader's 
hands,  and  other  stories,  not  unlike,  are  not  always 
finished  by  that  reader. 

The  dictates  of  modern  life,  and  other  circum- 
stances, prevented  George  Drummond  from  address- 
ing Bessy  Gurtry  in  this  way,  as  he  was  suddenly 
aware  that  he  had  not  spoken  to  her,  since  with 
tears  she  had  passionately  begged  him  to  leave  her, 
and  had  told  him  that  this  life  he  proposed  could 
never  be. 

George  Drummond  therefore,  while  he  assiduously 
helped  Mr.  Gurtry  with  his  trunks,  offered  no  sugges- 
tion as  to  the  way  in  which  the  trunks  should  go  to 
Tenterdon,  nor  intimated,  indeed,  that  Mr.  Gurtry 
and  his  daughter  were  not  to  spend  their  lives  at 
"Weutworth  Junction. 

As  to  poor  Bessy  Gurtry,  her  courage  failed  her. 
It  was  dark.  It  was  late.  It  was  raining.  She  was 
tired  out.  She  had  telegraphed  to  her  friends  that 
she  and  her  father  were  coming.  But  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph,  true  to  that  great  policy  of  dis- 
couraging the  small  customers  and  working  for  the 
large  ones,  whose  payments  are  worth  working  for, 
had  not  hurried  with  the  message,  which,  in  fact,  ap- 
peared the  next  morning.  And  so  poor  Miss  Gurty 
all  but  broke  down.  She  did  not  cry.  She  would 
have  cried,  had  not  George  Drummond  been  on  the 


260  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

platform.  She  did  pretend  to  ask  the  station-master 
whether  he  could  send  her  over,  knowing  perfectly 
well  that  he  could  not  if  he  would,  and  would  not  if 
he  could. 

May  Kemington  was  mistress  of  the  position.  She 
would  naturally  have  asked  Miss  Gurtry  to  go  with 
her,  and  would  have  asked  Rebus  to  let  Mr.  Gurtry 
sit  on  the  seat  with  him.  But  two  instincts  dis- 
suaded her,  rising  from  two  utterly  different  hypothe- 
ses, and  yet  reinforcing  each  other,  as  diverse  instincts 
will.  If,  as  she  had  sometimes  thought,  as  she  had 
certainly  thought  the  night  when  Mr.  Tangier  was 
seen  returning  from  Miss  Gurtry's  home,  the  night 
when  George  Drummond  cut  the  old  horse  so  sav- 
agely with  his  whip,  —  if  George  Drummond  hated 
Mr.  Tangier,  he  might  kill  him  in  riding  home  in  the 
carriage  with  him.  On  the  other  hand,  suppose  she 
should  ask  Mr.  Drummond  to  take  home  Miss  Gurtry 
and  her  father  ?  Would  not  that  be  a  palpable  bit  of 
match-making,  too  gross  to  be  pardoned,  observable 
even  by  the  station-master  ?  The  thing  to  do  would 
be  to  put  Mr.  Gurtry  into  that  carriage  with  his 
daughter,  and  ask  Mr.  Drummond  to  sit  outside  with 
the  boy  who  drove.  But  for  that  she  had  no  courage. 
So  May  Kemington  gave  no  advice,  and  I  do  not  know 
but  Miss  Gurtry  and  her  father  might  have  sat  in  the 
ladies'  room  all  that  night,  as  they  had  sat  in  the 
ladies'  room  at  Abydos  half  the  night  before,  but 
that  Kebus  came  to  the  rescue  of  all  parties.  Kebus 
was  used  to  directing  the  destinies  of  women,  and 
therefore  always  moulded,  to  a  large  extent,  the  des- 
tinies of  men,  who  are  principally  dependent  upon 
\vomen. 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  261 

"Nahum,"  he  said  to  the  boy  from  the  fishing-gang, 
t  who  had  come  for  Mr.  Drummond,  "  back  up  here. 
Take  this  bag  on  the  seat  with  you.  You  get  in  here, 
Miss."  This  to  Miss  Gurtry,  who  obeyed  as  meekly 
as  if  a  giant  in  one  of  those  old  romances  had  given, 
to  her  his  orders.  "Miss  May,  I  shall  leave  your 
large  trunk  for  the  stage ;  you  will  not  need  it  to-night. 
Please  get  in ;  they  are  waiting."  And  he  handed 
the  passive  May  Remington  to  her  seat.  "Now,  sir, 
get  up  with  him ;  "  this  to  Mr.  Gurtry,  who  obeyed  as 
meekly  as  the  others.  "Mr.  Drummond,  Mr.  Drum- 
mond, they  are  all  waiting.  Mr.  Tangier,  I  take  you, 
if  you  will  get  in,"  and  he  thrust  Mr.  Tangier  in  to 
join  May  Remington.  He  bade  Nahum  keep  behind 
him  in  the  darkness.  He  took  his  own  reins  and 
drove  off,  and  left  George  Drummond  to  enter  the 
other  carry-all  with  Miss  Gurtry,  to  be  shut  in  by 
darkness,  and  to  follow  in  the  darkness. 

Do  such  people  as  Rebus  solve  the  great  ques- 
tions of  life  intentionally  ?  Or  does  some  demiurge, 
working  behind  them  and  by  them,  compel  them  to 
these  movements  of  sudden  determination,  in  which 
they  become,  for  the  exigency,  the  directors  of  the 
world  ? 


262  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

MR.  TANGIER  entered  the  dark  carriage,  amused 
and  not  disconcerted.  He  had  not  chosen  his 
companion,  but  he  had  the  very  companion  whom  he 
preferred,  without  having  to  show  that  he  had  made 
the  choice.  As  for  Miss  Remington,  she  hardly  knew 
whether  she  were  annoyed  or  not.  She  was  too  con- 
scious that  she  and  Mrs.  Duuster  and  all  that  family 
always  obeyed  the  directions  of  Rebus,  to  struggle 
much  against  his  authority.  There  flitted  across  her 
mind  a  sense  of  how  funny  this  would  be  if  she  saw 
it  upon  the  stage,  and  she  could  not  but  think  that,  a 
moment  before,  she  would  have  bitten  her  tongue  out, 
before  she  would  have  invited  Mr.  Tangier  to  ride 
with  her.  But  as  she  had  not  invited  him,  and  as  he 
knew  she  had  not  invited  him,  — indeed,  as  he  knew 
perfectly  well  how  great  the  powers  of  Rebus  were, 
and  how  desperate  was  any  attempt  to  oppose  him,  — 
she  acceded  to  the  inevitable,  as,  in  such  cases,  she 
had  often  done  before. 

As  to  Mr.  Tangier,  he  was  in  the  happy  condition 
of  a  man  who  had  done  nobody  any  harm.  He  sus- 
pected, indeed,  that  everybody  in  Tenterdon  thought 
that  he  had  done  everybody  harm.  As  has  been  said, 
he  was  quite  conscious  of  a  certain  coldness  in  Mrs. 
Dunster's  bearing  towards  him,  and  he  was  quite  con- 
scious that  the  people  at  the  boarding-house  discussed 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  263 

his  affairs,  not  in  the  absolutely  friendly  tone  with 
which  he  was  regarded  at  the  beginning  of  the  summer. 
But  he  had  done  nothing  wrong  to  anybody ;  and  he 
knew  he  had  done  nothing  wrong.  He  was  straight- 
forward in  his  life,  and  without  crime,  as  Horace  says, 
and  although  he  did  not  ever  quote  Latin  to  himself, 
he  entered  the  carriage  with  the  readiness  of  a  man 
who  has  obtained  exactly  what  he  wants,  without  hav- 
ing put  out  his  hand  or  wagged  his  tongue  for  it. 

"  I  am  so  glad  to  see  you,"  he  said  to  May  Keming- 
ton.  "  It  seemed  as  if  I  were  never  to  see  you  again. 
And,  as  I  could  not  tell  iu  this  darkness  whether  you 
were  Miss  Kemington,  or  whether  you  were  Lucretia 
Borgia,  I  am  very  well  aware  that  I  use  a  figure  of 
speech  in  saying  that  I  see  you  at  all."  May  Kem- 
ington, a  little  grimly  perhaps,  expressed  the  hope 
that  he  was  not  crowded  by  her  parasol,  her  little 
carpet-bag,  the  roll  of  prints  she  was  carrying  home, 
or  the  basket  of  pears  which  had  been  sent  as  a  pres- 
ent to  Mrs.  Dunster. 

Mr.  Tangier  saw  that  she  was  disposed  to  be  either 
on  the  defensive  or  on  the  aggressive,  he  was  not 
quite  sure  which.  But  he  was  still  light-hearted  at 
the  good  chances  of  the  interview,  and  determined 
that  he  would  find  out,  before  the  ride  was  over,  what 
the  matter  was  with  Miss  Remington  and  Mrs.  Dun- 
ster. For  three  weeks  he  had  been  aware  that  some- 
thing was  the  matter,  and  now  was  the  time  to  find  it 
out,  if  any  time  there  were. 

"  You  have  been  quite  a  traveller  since  I  saw  you," 
he  said.  "  We  have  had  rumors  of  you  at  the  Mount 
Adams  House ;  I  met  Ferguson,  who  saw  you  at 
Berlin  Falls,  and  some  one  said  that  you  had  in  ado 


264  MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS. 

the  ascent  to  the  topmost  peak,  if  peak  there  were,  of 
Mount  Washington." 

May  Kemington  had  meant  to  be  cross,  was  cross. 
But,  all  the  same,  Mr.  Tangier  was  a  gentleman,  and 
he  spoke  with  the  light-heartedness  of  a  gentleman 
who  was  innocent  of  crime.  She  had  been  at  all  the 
places  indicated ;  she  had  forgotten  herself,  and  en- 
joyed every  moment  while  she  was  there ;  and,  with 
the  true  passion  for  Nature  that  characterized  her  in 
all  that  she  said  or  did,  she  forgot,  for  the  instant, 
that  she  had  meant  to  be  cross  with  him,  and  launched 
out  in  that  enthusiasm  with  which  a  person  who  is 
fond  of  Nature  must  speak  of  the  mountains  at  any 
time.  In  Miss  Remington's  case,  the  enthusiasm  was 
the  more  pronounced,  because,  as  it  happened,  this 
was  her  first  visit  to  our  little  Switzerland.  Before 
she  knew  it,  she  was  running  on  in  an  eager  account 
of  the  glories  of  the  mountains,  as  if  Mr.  Tangier  had 
been  the  best  friend  she  had  in  the  world. 

Mr.  Tangier  was  himself  an  old  mountaineer. 
There  were  few  of  the  passes  in  the  White  Mountains 
which  he  had  not  himself  explored.  He  had  gone 
through  the  well-known  notches  with  gay  parties,  on 
horseback,  on  foot,  or  on  the  top  of  a  stage-coach, 
when  everybody  was  in  high  spirits.  He  had  gone 
through  the  woods  alone,  by  a  spotted  trail,  with  no 
guide  but  the  brook  which  he  traced,  or  his  compass, 
or  his  good  sense.  He  had  made  his  own  fire  when 
night  came,  and  slept  happily  by  it  till  sunrise.  May 
Remington's  animation  waked  the  memory  of  these 
old  experiences,  and  he  eagerly  compared  notes  with 
her  about  Pulpit  Rock,  and  the  Carter  Notch,  and 
whether  she  went  up  this  valley  or  down  that,  about 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  265 

that  wonderful  garden  of  orchises  which  is  high  above 
the  Tamworth  valley  as  you  cross  to  Sawyer's  river, 
and  so  on  and  so  on.  Both  of  them  for  the  moment, 
in  the  eager  memory  of  what  they  had  so  much  en- 
joyed, forgot  that  there  had  seemed  to  be  a  cloud  on 
their  cordial  friendship.  And  matters  were  thus  well 
prepared  for  a  return  to  the  experiences,  more  mun- 
dane, but  not  more  commonplace,  of  Tenterdon,  and 
the  reorganization  of  society.  Kebus  had  to  stop  to 
leave  word  with  Jonas  Wesley  about  some  post-holes 
which  were  to  be  dug  the  next  day ;  and,  from  a 
sunrise  view  on  the  top  of  Mount  Washington,  Mr. 
Tangier  and  his  companion  had  to  descend  instantly 
to  the  present  condition.  They  were  not  looking  at 
the  sunrise.  They  were  sitting  in  a  close  carriage, 
with  a  pile  of  hand-baggage  on  their  feet  and  knees, 
while  Eebus  was  pounding  at  the  door  of  the  Wes- 
leys.  The  Wesleys  had  gone  to  bed. 

Mr.  Tangier  accepted  the  interruption.  He  meant 
to  be  at  the  bottom  of  their  misunderstanding,  if 
misunderstanding  there  were.  If  there  were  not,  he 
meant  to  know  that  there  was  none. 

"  I  am  afraid  that  you  do  not  hear  very  favorable 
reports  of  the  Palace  of  Delight,"  he  said.  "Either 
we  planned  wrong,  or  our  plans  have  not  been  carried 
out  wisely." 

"  You  know  I  have  been  away,"  she  said,  recollect- 
ing, a  little  indignantly,  that  she  had  meant  to  be 
cold  and  reserved,  and  had  not  been  cold  and  reserved 
at  all. 

"Perhaps  that  is  what  is  the  matter,"  said  he, 
good-naturedly,  but  not  with  the  air  of  compliment. 
"  I  have  been  away  more  or  less.  But  that  ought  not 


266  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

to  have  made  a  difference.  If  the  plot  were  a  good 
plot,  it  should  have  worked  well,  even  in  the  absence 
of  the  chief  conspirators." 

"  And  why  do  you  think  it  does  not  work  well  ? " 
said  she.  "  We  must  not  expect  too  much,  as  my 
aunt  is  always  saying." 

"No,  I  hope  I  do  not  expect  too  much.  But  I  had 
hoped  that,  if  there  were  a  reading-room,  somebody 
would  read ;  if  there  were  a  conversation-room,  some- 
body would  converse ;  if  there  were  a  music-room,  that 
somebody  would  play  on  the  piano.  Now,  as  far  as 
I  can  find  out,  Aunty  Turner  is  the  only  person  who 
frequents  the  house,  and  every  time  I  go  there  I  am 
afraid  she  will  have  left  it  in  despair,  and  that  I  shall 
find  the  key  hanging  behind  the  door.  I  did  find  it 
so  once,  when  she  had  gone  for  an  outing." 

"Can  it  be,"  said  Miss  Kemington,  "that  people 
have  grown  unsocial,  and  that  they  are  so  shy  or  so 
proud  that  they  do  not  want  to  see  each  other  ?  Cer- 
tainly, that  night  every  one  was  cordial  enough,"  and 
then,  by  a  sharp  surprise,  there  came  back  to  her  the 
memory  of  George  Drumrnond's  blow  on  the  horse 
when  she  and  he  together  saw  Mr.  Tangier  returning 
from  Miss  Gurtry's  house  at  the  end  of  the  evening. 

"  I  wish,"  said  he,  "  that  I  could  unravel  the  mys- 
teries of  that  evening.  I  left  all  of  a  sudden.  In 
the  midst  of  the  fire-works  I  found  your  poor  Miss 
Gurtry,  faint  and  all  knocked  up.  She  would  not 
ride,  but  she  would  go  home.  I  did  not  dare  leave 
her  alone,  and  walked  home  with  her.  But  it  was 
later  than  I  thought,  and  I  met  all  of  you  as  I 
went  back  again."  He  spoke  with  perfect  simplicity 
and  evident  frankness.  Fortunately,  indeed,  he  was 


MR.  TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  267 

wholly  ignorant  that  this  walk,  to  which  he  had 
ascribed  no  importance  in  the  social  problems  of 
Tenterdon,  had,  in  fact,  been  the  subject  of  endless 
gossip  and  speculation. 

May  Eemington  was  indignant  beyond  measure 
with  herself,  that  she  had  ever  permitted  herself  to 
think  a  second  time  of  a  matter  of  which  he  spoke 
with  such  frankness  and  indifference. 

Fortunately,  it  was  so  dark  that  he  did  not  see  her 
face.  She  had  nothing  to  say,  and  she  said  it.  He 
broke  the  moment's  silence  himself,  and  went  on  in 
the  same  unengaged  and  frank  way. 

"  It  is  all  over  now,  but  I  may  as  well  tell  you 
another  plan  I  had,  though  nothing  came  of  it. 

"  I  saw  the  tide  ran  against  us  at  the  Palace.  I 
saw  that  Aunty  Turner  was  homesick,  and  that  noth- 
ing worked  well.  And  I  had  a  notion,  I  rather  think 
you  or  your  aunt  started  it,  that  Miss  Gurtry  would 
be  a  good  element  there.  I  knew  about  her  classes 
at  church,  and  it  was  plain  enough  that  her  boys 
worshipped  her.  So  I  went  round 'to  see  her,  and  I 
asked  her  why  she  could  not  go  to  the  Palace  of 
Delight,  and  live  with  Aunty  Turner,  instead  of  liv- 
ing with  the  Campbells.  Oh,  I  blocked  out  quite  a 
scheme,  —  that  she  was  to  be  called  '  librarian/  but 
really  she  was  to  be  Director  of  the  Hospitalities. 
After  all,  there  is  no  hospitality  unless  there  is  some 
one  to  be  hospitable.  And  I  thought  then,  and  to  tell 
you  the  truth  I  think  now,  that  a  bright,  engaging 
person  like  her,  young  herself,  and  who  gets  on  well 
with  young  people,  would  find  endless  ways  and 
plans  which  would  make  quite  another  place  of  our 
poor  gloomy  old  Palace.  But  I  don't  know,  I  h;ivu 


268  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

no  art  of  persuasion.  I  should  have  done  better  with 
a  jury  in  a  mill-dam  case.  She  would  not  hear  to  me 
at  all,  and  went  back  to  her  father." 

So,  simply  and  openly  again,  did  he  unfold  and  dis- 
cuss that  interview  which  had  set  all  Tenterdon  on  the 
quirvive  of  inquiry.  Again  May  Kemington  bit  her 
lips  in  indignation,  that  she  had  ever,  for  a  second 
time  remembered  that  Mrs.  Floxam,  in  her  hateful 
way,  had  told  her  of  this  visit. 

Again  she  said  nothing.  But  Mr.  Tangier,  honest 
soul,  did  not  remark  on  her  silence,  perhaps  did  not 
observe  it.  After  an  instant's  pause,  he  went  on  : 

"  Seeing  her  here  makes  me  almost  feel  as  if  I  would 
open  on  the  matter  again.  She  wrote  to  me  from  Te- 
cumseh,  where  her  father  lived,  a  letter  which  she  had 
promised  to  write,  because  she  had  some  feeling  that 
I  might  be  able  to  advance  his  fortunes.  I  know 
some  of  their  political  leaders  out  there,  and  I  might 
perhaps  serve  him.  I  got  her  letter  promptly,  and  I 
answered  it  promptly,  but  I  have  never  heard  from 
her  again." 

Once  more  he  spoke  without  the  least  hesitation  on 
a  matter  which  all  Tenterdon  discussed  in  whispers, 
and  of  which  even  Mrs.  Dunster  had  spoken  in  writ- 
ing to  her  niece. 

And  once  more  May  Remington  felt  the  blush  which 
she  was  glad  no  one  could  see,  which  would  have  shown 
her  mortification  that  the  mild  police  of  the  town  had 
made  so  much  fuss  about  a  matter  of  no  importance. 

"  Now  that  she  is  here  again,"  said  Mr.  Tangier,  as 
innocently  as  before,  "I  shall  turn  you  ladies  upon 
her.  I  wanted  Mrs.  Dunster  to  see  her,  but  she  was 
away  somewhere,  and  Miss  Gurtry  left  so  suddenly 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  269 

that  I  could  not  negotiate.  I  did  not  understand  that 
she  was  to  come  back  ;  indeed,  the  exact  thing  which  I 
did  understand  was  that  she  was  not  to  come  back. 
And  now  she  has  brought  her  father  with  her.  I 
wonder  whether  he  is  to  stay." 

May  Remington  roused  herself  to  a  consciousness 
that  she  had  said  nothing,  and  that  she  must  say  some- 
thing. She  succeeded  in  remembering  that  Miss 
Gurtry  was  very  much  attached  to  her  father,  and  had 
once  told  her  that  she  was  anxious  about  his  health. 
She  thought  Miss  Gurtry  had  said  that  he  and  she 
were  all,  that  there  was  no  mother,  nor  any  brothers 
and  sisters. 

"He  seems  delicate,"  said  Mr.  Tangier.  "But 
when  we  were  together  a  moment,  there  was  some- 
thing very  attractive  about  his  face.  Clearly  a  gentle- 
man —  you  might  have  guessed  that,  for  she  is  clearly 
a  lady.  How  would  this  do,  Miss  May,  —  ask  your 
aunt  how  this  would  do.  Might  not  he  and  Miss  Gur- 
try both  live  with  Aunty  Turner  in  the  Stage-house  ? 
Would  not  that  cheer  her  up  —  I  mean  your  dear  old 
Mrs.  Turner  —  so  that  she  shall  not  die  of  loneliness  ? 
Might  not  Miss  Gurtry  maintain  the  elegant  hospi- 
tality, be  the  '  Hospitaller,'  as  Ivanhoe  would  call  her, 
and  then  this  quiet,  poetical  father  see  to  the  books, 
the  checkers  and  chessmen,  talk  Shakspeare  in  the 
Shakspeare  club,  Mozart  in  the  music  club,  and  sci- 
ence in  the  Stevenson  club  ?  Really,  I  begin  to  take 
heart  again." 

May  Remington  was  self-rebuked  again.  If  Mr. 
Tangier  had  been  flirting  with  Miss  Gurtry,  he  cer- 
tainly had  the  most  open-handed  and  public  way  of 
announcing  the  several  steps  of  his  flirtations. 


270  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

IN  the  other  carriage,  very  different  conversations 
were  going  forward. 

On  the  front  seat,  Mr.  Gurtry  made  one  or  two  in- 
efficient efforts  to  engage  Nahum,  who  was,  however, 
now  taking  the  direction  of  affairs  largely  into  his 
own  hands.  He  was  indifferent  to  Mr.  Gurtry's  ap- 
proaches, until  he  felt  that  he  had  completely  estab- 
lished his  own  superiority.  He  then  took  the  lead  in 
the  conversation  himself,  thinking  he  had  sufficiently 
subdued  the  Western  man.  In  a  long  monologue,  he 
eventually  told  Mr.  Gurtry  the  ups  and  downs  of  the 
enterprise  of  the  saw-mill  man,  how  far  it  had  been 
conducted  as  Nahum  thought  judicious,  and  in  what 
points  it  had  wholly  failed.  In  this  monologue,  Mr. 
Gurtry  was  compelled  to  pretend  to  listen,  but  was 
hardly  able  to  say  a  word. 

The  other  two,  George  Drummond  and  the  woman 
he  adored,  were  seated  so  close  to  each  other  that  it 
would  really  have  been  more  convenient,  had  pro- 
priety permitted  him  to  fold  her  in  his  arms,  as  the 
books  say.  Propriety  did  not  permit,  and  he  did  no 
such  thing.  And  here  they  had  a  ride  before  them  of 
half  an  hour  or  more,  with  only  the  faintest  opportu- 
nity for  him  to  say  what  he  wanted  to  say,  and  with 
all  the  thought,  quickened  to  agony  at  times,  of  the 
days  of  his  pursuit.  He  had  not  now  so  arranged 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  271 

thought  or  purpose  that  he  knew  how  to  address  her, 
•when  he  must  speak  what  Nahum  and  Mr.  Gurtry 
might  hear  as  well  as  she. 

The  whist-players  have  a  maxim,  "  When  you  are  in 
doubt,  take  the  trick." 

A  similar  maxim  in  life  would  be,  "  When  you  do 
not  know  what  to  say,  tell  the  truth." 

George  Drummond  did  not  care  if  all  men  knew 
what  all  good  angels  knew,  and  so  he  said  bravely, 
"  I  am  so  glad  you  are  here.  You  do  not  know  it,  but 
I  have  beeu  to  Tecumseh  to  see  you." 

Was  she,  for  a  moment,  exquisitely  happy  ?  Or 
was  there  a  sense  of  exquisite  misery  ?  In  a  book,  she 
would  have  started ;  but  in  fact  she  did  not  start.  If 
he  had  hoped  she  would  start,  he  was  disappointed. 

"  To  Tecumseh  —  really  to  Tecumseh  ?  "  she  said. 
"Why,  when  were  you  there?  We  have  only  just 
come  away." 

Then  he  explained  in  some  little  detail  that  he  knew 
on  what  day  she  left  Tecumseh,  and  he  certainly  sur- 
prised her  by  his  accurate  knowledge  of  her  move- 
ments while  she  lived  there.  He  told  her  of  his  false 
clews  afterwards,  and  of  what  he  had  done,  —  not  in 
undue  detail,  but  carefully  enough  to  make  her  under- 
stand how  thoroughly  he  was  interested  in  his  search, 
and  that  she,  and  only  she,  was  his  object.  The 
story  was  long  enough  to  give  her  some  little  chance 
at  self-command. 

Then  there  was  a  pause,  which  seemed  to  them  in- 
terminable, but  they  could  hear  Nahum  lecturing  in  a 
monotone  on  the  price  and  quality  of  oats.  Drum- 
mond would  not  break  the  silence,  perhaps  could  not. 
As  has  been  said,  he  had  been  preparing  for  fifteen 


272  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

hundred  miles  what  he  would  say.  But  he  had  been 
preparing  for  a  private  interview,  and  not  for  the 
chances  of  being  overheard  if  the  prices  of  oats  should 
adjust  themselves.  Miss  Gurtry  on  her  part  said 
nothing,  because  she  was  very  much  frightened.  She 
hardly  knew  why,  but  none  the  less  was  she  fright- 
ened. At  last,  however,  when  it  seemed  as  if  the  top 
of  the  carriage  would  fall  upon  them  and  crush  them 
both  if  neither  spoke,  she  screwed  up  all  her  courage, 
and  said :  — 

"  Have  you  friends  in  Tecumseh  ?  "  She  was  sorry, 
of  course,  the  moment  she  had  said  it,  for  George 
Drummond  answered  in  a  flash :  — 

"  I  thought  I  had  one  friend  there,  for  I  thought  to 
find  you." 

Then  she  said  again  that  they  left  on  such  and  such 
a  day ;  for  it  is  one  of  the  oddest  things  about  an  em- 
barrassed conversation,  that  people  continue  to  repeat 
the  same  statement  of  facts,  either  in  new  words  or 
in  the  words  which  have  been  used  before.  It  is  some- 
what as  in  a  weak  or  embarrassed  newspaper,  when 
you  have  read  one  paragraph,  you  find  the  same  para- 
graph put  in  a  second  time,  under  it. 

"Yes,"  said  George  Drummoud,  more  bravely  this 
time,  "  I  went  to  Tecumseh  only  to  see  you."  George 
Drummond  was  willing  that  Mr.  Gurtry  should  hear 
this  acknowledgment,  and  Nahum,  and  the  horses,  and 
all  good  angels.  In  fact,  also,  Nahum  was  by  this  time 
lecturing  on  the  saw-mill,  and  Mr.  Gurtry's  thoughts 
were  far  afield  in  the  intricacies  of  a  decision  in  the 
Patent-office. 

"  I  wanted  to  consult  you,"  said  George  Drummond, 
boldly,  "  about  an  important  proposal  which  has  been 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  273 

made  to  me,  which  will  require  me  to  go  to  Newfound- 
land or  to  Cape  Breton." 

Miss  Gurtry  of  course  should  have  said,  in  a  tone  of 
rebuke,  and  with  her  head  thrown  up  as  if  she  were  a 
schoolmistress  trying  to  confuse  a  pupil :  "  Pray  why 
should  you  consult  me  ?  "  But  being  rather  a  human 
person,  and  being  taken  rather  by  surprise,  she  did 
say,  "  You  leave  Tenterdon,  —  and  for  how  long, 
pray  ?  " 

Once  more  George  Drummond  defied  Nahum  and 
Mr.  Gurtry.  "  As  long  as  I  live,  unless  you  say  no." 

But  Mr.  George  Drummond,  being,  indeed,  as  igno- 
rant of  women  and  their  nature  as  he  was  of  the  more 
recondite  problems  of  quaternions,  had  gone  too  fast 
and  too  far. 

Miss  Gurtry  was  well-nigh  alone.  She  was  in  low 
spirits.  She  did  not  know  what  the  next  day  would 
bring  her.  She  was  without  a  home  and  was  looking 
for  one.  But  for  all  this  she  was  not  to  be  crowded, 
and  so  Drummond  found. 

"  I  do  not  think  so  ill  of  you  as  to  believe  you,"  she 
said.  "  You  ought  to  know  yourself  better  than  I  do. 
But  I  know  I  will  not  let  anybody  else  make  up  my 
mind  for  me,  and  I  do  not  think  you  will  let  anybody 
else  make  up  your  mind  for  you." 

These  words  might  have  been  said  priggishly  or 
harshly,  but  they  were  said  gently  and  pleasantly. 
For  Bessy  Gurtry  was  not  a  prig,  and  she  was  George 
Drummond's  true  friend.  He  saw,  in  a  moment,  that 
he  had  gone  too  fast  and  too  far,  and  that  he  must 
begin  again. 

"  Let  me  tell  you,"  he  said,  somewhat  apologetically 
this  time,  as  if  he  would  withdraw  the  hasty  remark 

18 


274  MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS. 

she  had  censured.  "Let  me  tell  you.  Do  you  know, 
have  you  read  in  the  newspapers,  or  has  your  father 
told  you  of  this  trouble  there  is  about  fish  ?  Part 
of  it  is  about  treaties,  part  of  it  is  the  jealousy  be- 
tween men  of  one  nation  and  another.  Practically, 
as  Mr.  Burdett  would  say,  the  bottom  question,  the 
real  question,  the  question  for  the  angels,  is,  How  can 
the  codfish  and  the  mackerel,  which  are  now  crowding 
each  other  in  the  waters  for  a  thousand  miles,  more 
or  less,  to  the  northeast  of  us  yonder,"  —  and  he 
pointed  to  the  light-house  which  they  could  see  in 
the  offing,  —  "  how  shall  these  fish,  amiable,  innocent, 
and  indeed  not  unwilling,  be  brought  most  easily  to 
the  plates,  not  to  say  the  mouths,  of  hungry  people  ? 
That  is  the  bottom  question.  Now,  as  you  know,  I 
am  a  fisherman  by  profession.  I  went  to  New  York, 
after  I  saw  you  last,  about  our  little  business  here, 
and  there  I  saw  some  men  who  want  to  establish  a 
Yankee  colony  down  on  the  coast  yonder.  And  they 
have  proposed  to  me  that  I  shall  be  the  Captain  John 
Smith  of  the  new  Jamestown,  or,  if  you  please,  the 
John  Winthrop  of  this  new  Boston.  Of  course  it  is 
all  in  good  faith.  But  we  know  how  to  fish,  or  we 
think  we  do,  quite  as  well  as  they  do.  Why,  it  is  in 
my  blood,"  he  said  proudly.  "The  first  Drummond 
dried  codfish  on  the  Isles  of  Shoals  before  Mary  Chil- 
ton  put  her  foot  on  Plymouth,  —  before  Mary  Chiltcn 
was  born." 

Then  he  laughed  at  his  own  eagerness,  which  had 
indeed  implied  that  Mary  Chilton  was  to  blame  for 
coming  into  the  world  no  earlier.  But  the  sudden 
outbreak  of  his  enthusiasm  in  this  matter  was  for- 
tunate for  him. 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  275 

It  pleased  Bessy  Gurtry,  even  in  the  reserve  which 
she  had  assumed.  She  had  always  liked  this  pride  of 
Drummond  in  his  occupation.  More  than  once,  she 
had  heard  him  boast  that  the  fishing-gang  was  em- 
ployed in  direct  answer  to  men's  daily  prayer  for  daily 
bread;  and  more  than  once  she  had  heard  him  run 
back  on  little  odd  bits  of  the  history  or  romance  of 
fishing,  like  this  allusion  to  Mary  Chiltou  and  to  the 
Isles  of  Shoals.  But  the  girl  said  nothing,  and  so 
forced  him  to  go  on.  After  a  moment's  pause,  he 
said :  — 

"And  I  really  wanted  counsel.  I  withdraw  all  1 
said  before,  but  I  did  want  the  best  advice  from  my 
friends,  and  I  think  you  are  a  true  friend." 

This  time  she  could  not  help  saying,  "  You  are  quite 
right  there,"  and  she  said  it  so  gently  and  sweetly  that 
the  poor  fellow  took  it  for  more  than  it  was  perhaps 
worth,  poor  little  crumb  of  comfort  that  it  was !  Un- 
fortunately, at  the  same  moment  Nahum  had  come  to 
a  pause  in  the  saw-mill  lecture,  and  gave  to  his  audi- 
ence what  the  old  Lyceum  used  to  call  "an  intermis- 
sion of  five  minutes." 

Once  more  the  dead  and  dread  silence  brooded  over 
the  four,  broken  only  by  the  pattering  of  the  rain  on 
the  top  of  the  carriage,  and  the  plash  of  the  horse's  feet 
as  he  stepped  into  the  frequent  puddles.  Once  more 
it  seemed  to  Miss  Gurtry  that  she  should  die  if  nobody 
said  anything,  but  this  time  she  doubted  if  she  could 
try  the  experiment ;  for  she  could  think  of  nothing  to 
say  which  she  dared  say,  and  she  had  no  such  conven- 
ient resource  as  asking  Mr.  Drummond  if  he  had  read 
the  last  Howells's,  or  how  he  liked  the  opera. 

George   Drummond    had    many    things    which   he 


276  MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS. 

he  wanted  to  say;  but  he  confessed  to  himself  that 
did  not  care  to  have  Miss  Gurtry's  answer  to  them 
repeated  in  the  stable  the  next  morning  by  ISTahum. 
He  had  taken  the  measure  of  Mr.  Gurtry  well  enough, 
already,  to  know  that  he  was  dreaming  of  some  far-off 
matter,  and  would  hardly  know  whether  his  daughter 
spoke  or  what  she  said. 

"  I  think  we  all  hate  to  change  our  allegiance,"  he 
said  at  last.  "  I  think  that  is  in  the  blood.  We  all 
talk  about  our  respect  for  the  gracious  lady  who  has 
reigned  for  fifty  years,  and  I  suppose  I  have  as  much 
of  it  as  any  man  has  who  is  not  her  subject.  But  the 
idea  of  becoming  anybody's  subject  is  in  itself  dis- 
tasteful ; "  and  then  he  paused  again,  to  see  if  he  could 
draw  her  answer.  But  he  did  not  succeed.  "  On  the 
other  hand,"  he  said,  in  a  tentative  way,  "  I  think  it 
is  in  the  blood  of  all  Americans  to  wish  to  establish 
colonies,  or  to  wish  to  go  somewhere  where  they  wero 
not  born.  You  know  the  Garfields,  for  seven  genera- 
tions, died  in  houses  they  were  not  born  in,  and  in 
most  of  those  generations  the  houses  were  built  on  the 
land  which  had  been  given  them  for  military  service. 
The  Drummonds  have  never  been  soldiers ;  they  have 
not  always  been  fishermen ;  but  they  have  always 
been  emigrants.  I  was  born  in  !N"ew  England,  and 
perhaps  that  is  the  reason  why  I  should  die  in 
Anticosti."  Here  Avas  another  pause. 

Again  Miss  Gurtry  said  nothing.  It  was  not  that 
she  had  nothing  to  say;  but  she  was  a  little  afraid 
of  herself.  She  was  not  quite  sure  whether  she  had 
passed  her  own  line  in  the  last  words  that  she  said, 
and  she  remembered  that  — 

"  The  dumb  man's  borders  still  increase." 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  277 

"  Then  again,"  said  George  Drummond,  almost  as  if 
it  were  the  "  thirdly  "  of  a  sermon,  "  there  is  a  certain 
satisfaction  in  having  a  thing  done  well  which  is  now 
done  ill.  I  cannot  read  the  newspaper  quarrels  about 
this  matter  with  the  least  satisfaction.  In  fact,  I  do 
not  read  them.  If  it  would  do  to  say  so,  I  do  not 
think  that  either  government  understands  at  all  what 
it  is  talking  about.  I  believe  that  a  commission  of 
fishermen,  such  as  I  could  make  among  the  gang 
yonder,  and  my  principals  at  New  York,  and  two  or 
three  gentlemen  I  should  like  to  name  in  Newfound- 
land and  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick,  would  set- 
tle this  matter  better  than  all  the  cabinets  in  the 
world.  If  we  know  how  to  do  it,  why  should  not  we 
do  it  ?  That  question  comes  up  to  me  sometimes." 

He  paused  again.  This  time  Bessy  Gurtry  thought 
she  was  safe  in  saying :  "  I  see  there  are  more  difficul- 
ties than  I  supposed  at  first.  Indeed,  there  is  more  in- 
volved than  I  supposed  at  first,  when  I  thought  you 
were  speaking  of  absence  for  the  season,  perhaps. 
But,  Mr.  Drummond,  do  you  know  the  old  story  about 
the  law  student  ?  " 

Drummoud  said  he  did  not  know. 

"  It  is  a  story  my  father  used  to  tell  when  he  talked 
more.  It  was  told  to  the  disadvantage  of  a  young 
lawyer  who  lived  in  our  Tecumseh.  He  was  at  the 
law  school,  and  the  professor  asked  him  what  he 
should  do  in  a  certain  crisis.  And  the  poor  boy 
answered,  after  haggling  a  little,  that  he  should  con- 
sult a  good  lawyer.  Women  are  so  fortunate  that 
nobody  asks  them  to  emigrate.  If  anybody  asked 
me,  I  should  consult  —  well,  I  should  consult  Mr.  Bur- 
dett,  or  perhaps  I  should  consult  Mr.  Tangier." 


278  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

She  spoke  without  a  thought  of  the  inference  which 
he  would  draw  from  her  words,  but  she  plunged  a 
dagger  into  his  heart.  Mr.  Tangier,  as  it  happened, 
was  the  only  lawyer  she  had  ever  spoken  to  in  her 
life,  excepting  as  a  little  girl,  when  she  chanced  to 
see  one  or  another  of  her  father's  political  compan- 
ions. But,  to  Mr.  Druramond's  ear,  the  selection  of 
Mr.  Tangier  as  a  particular  confidant  was  specially 
annoying. 

Rather  grimly  and  gruffly  he  replied :  "  A  law- 
yer would  tell  me  just  what  I  asked  him  to  tell  me. 
He  would  find  out  what  I  wanted  to  do,  and  then 
he  would  find  me  a  great  many  good  reasons  for 
doing  it." 

She  did  not  see  his  annoyance,  and  she  said:  "And 
why  do  you  not  find  out  what  you  want  to  do,  and 
do  that  ?  That  is  what  Mr.  Burdett  says.  He  says 
we  must  take  the  duty  next  our  hands,  but  between 
two  duties  next  our  hands  we  must  select  the  one  for 
which  we  have  the  most  taste  and  more  inclination, 
and  therefore  the  more  ability.  I  suppose  you  know 
whether  you  had  rather  stay  with  the  fishing-gang 
in  Tenterdon,  or  had  rather  go  out  on  the  deep  sea 
yonder." 

Ah,  me  !  if  George  Drummond  could  have  said,  "  I 
will  stay  at  Tenterdon,  and  will  stay  there  forever, 
if  you  will  stay  there  ;  or  I  will  go  out  on  the 
deep  sea  yonder,  if  you  will  go  there,"  he  would 
have  said  just  what  he  wanted  to.  But  this  he 
did  not  dare  say  in  the  hearing  of  ISTahum  and  Mr. 
Gurtry.  If  he  had  told  the  truth  also,  under  that  ad- 
mirable rule  which  lias  been  given  already,  he  would 
have  said,  "  Can  you  not  understand  that  if  you 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  279 

are  still  cruel  and  hard  to  me,  I  do  not  care  whether 
I  live  in  Newfoundland,  or  in  Boothia  Felix,  or  in 
Madagascar ;  if  you  are  sorry  for  what  you  said  to  me 
before,  one  place  or  another  is  as  indifferent  to  me." 
But  he  could  not  say  this,  and  another  of  these  ter- 
rible pauses  ensued.  It  was  broken  this  time  by 
Nahuin  turning  around  to  ask  Miss  Gurtry  where  she 
and  her  father  would  be  left.  Would  they  go  to  the 
Campbells',  which  he  took  it  for  granted  was  Miss 
Gur try's  home,  or  where  would  they  go  ? 

George  Drummond  was  only  eager  to  say  that  if 
they  would  come  to  his  aunt's  house  they  should 
have  the  spare  chamber,  and  the  chamber  in  the  L, 
and  the  best  room  downstairs,  and  everything  else 
that  the  house  had  to  give.  In  a  blundering  way  he 
started  on  some  such  proposal,  but  Miss  Gurtry  did 
not  let  him  go  on,  —  interrupting  him,  indeed,  to 
cross-question  Nahum  a  little  about  the  condition 
of  things  with  Mrs.  Campbell.  She  knew  that  Mrs. 
Campbell  had  expected  company.  She  had  supposed 
Mrs.  Campbell  would  have  had  her  telegram.  It  was 
clear  enough  Mrs.  Campbell  had  not  received  her 
telegram.  Did  Nahum  know  whether  Mrs.  Campbell 
had  company  ? 

Nahuin  was  by  this  time  wet  and  very  cross.  He 
was  dissatisfied  with  Mr.  Gurtry 's  indifference  to  his 
discourse  about  the  saw-mill,  and  as  a  consequence  he 
chose  to  know  nothing  about  Mrs.  Campbell  and  her 
company  and  the  probabilities  there.  Then  it  was 
that  George  Drummond  again  made  this  suggestion  of 
his  about  his  aunt's,  and  the  chamber  in  the  L,  and  the 
rest ;  but  this  Bessy  would  not  hear  at  all,  and  at  this 
moment,  as  it  happened,  Nahum  himself  decided  the 


280  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

question  by  drawing  up  at  the  Old  Stage-house  to 
leave  a  parcel  of  newspapers  which  he  had  brought 
over  from  the  Junction.  It  had  been  so  dark  that  no 
one,  excepting  himself,  knew  exactly  where  they  all 
were.  Aunty  Turner  appeared  at  once  at  the  door, 
delighted  to  have  some  company  at  this  Palace  of 
Delight  on  a  wet,  lonely  evening,  in  which  nobody 
had  chosen  to  be  delighted.  A  happy  thought  struck 
Bessy  Gurtry.  She  appealed  rather  eagerly  to  Aunty 
Turner,  to  know  if  they  might  not  have  the  use  of  the 
"  guest-room,"  which  had  been  arranged,  in  the  plan 
of  the  Palace,  for  some  visitor  caught  by  accident, 
just  as  they  were.  Aunty  Turner  was  only  delighted 
to  see  a  face  or  to  hear  a  voice,  indeed,  and  she  at  once 
assented.  Bessy  Gurtry  left  the  carriage  instantly, 
not  waiting  for  George  Drummond  to  give  her  his 
hand.  Almost  with  an  air  of  command  she  com- 
pelled her  father  to  leave  it  also,  and  did  not  even 
take  pains  to  explain  to  the  dazed  Aunty  Turner  how 
she  proposed  to  dispose  of  herself  in  the  arrangements 
for  the  night.  The  poor  girl  was  only  too  glad  to  cut 
short  the  conversation  which  was  so  embarrassing; 
and  though  it  was  but  for  twenty-four  hours,  she  was 
glad  she  had  found  something  which  she  could  call 
a  home. 

And  so  poor  George  Drummond  was  carried  to  his 
aunt's  house  to  look  in  upon  the  loneliness  of  the  L , 
chamber,  and  the  best  room,  and  the  rest,  with  the  I 
consciousness  that  Bessy  Gurtry  had  preferred  to  stay 
in  Mr.  Tangier's  Palace  of  Delight,  and  had  declined 
to  accept  his  invitation. 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  281 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

ME.  TANGIER  came  down  to  breakfast  the  next 
morning  well  pleased  with  himself  and  the 
world.  He  went  through  the  morning  encounter 
which  every  one  had  to  have  with  Mrs.  Floxam,  in 
unusual  good-nature ;  and  he  fell  into  the  optimistic 
view  of  Mrs.  Hasey  quite  as  if  all  the  world  believed, 
and  must  believe,  that  everything  would  turn  out 
well. 

"  Why  I  Are  you  here  ?  "  said  Mrs.  Floxam,  in  her 
usual  tone  of  displeasure,  as  he  entered  the  breakfast- 
room. 

"  Yes,"  he  said,  even  putting  out  his  hand  in  his 
good-nature,  "the  bad  shilling  comes  back  very 
soon." 

"  You  said  you  should  not  be  back  for  a  week,"  said 
she,  with  that  eager  instinct  which  such  people  have 
to  prove  that  every  one  else  tells  lies,  and  loves  to. 

Dear  old  Mrs.  Hasey  interposed :  — 

"Well,  Mr.  Tangier,  you  are  welcome  indeed;  we 
have  missed  you  badly.  I  said  to  Jane  that  if  you 
did  not  come  back  in  a  day  or  two,  we  should  have  to 
send  for  the  Ravels  to  come  and  amuse  us." 

"  Thank  you,  dear  Mrs.  Hasey.  Would  you  like  to 
have  me  throw  a  summersault  now  ?  If  Mrs.  Fair- 
banks  will  risk  the  coffee-cups,  I  will  try." 


282  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

Mrs.  Floxam  said  she  wished  people  would  not  do 
such  things  at  table  as  he  proposed.  When  she  lived 
in  Coahuila  a  conjurer  came  in  to  the  breakfast-table 
one  morning,  and  put  two  eggs  under  a  bowl,  and 
General  Cervantes  sent  him  to  prison. 

Then  there  was  a  pause.  But  Mrs.  Hasey  could 
not  be  extinguished,  and  she  began  again. 

"The  doctor  came  here  the  second  day  after  you 
left,  and  I  did  my  best  to  make  him  talk  about  the 
Old  Stage-house,  and  Aunty  Turner,  —  you  know 
Aunty  Turner  has  been  sick  ?  " 

No,  Mr.  Tangier  had  not  known  it.  And,  if  she 
were  sick,  he  believed  she  would  be  better  very  soon. 
He  was  too  well  pleased,  —  released  as  he  was  from 
the  yacht  cabin,  —  to  believe  that  any  misfortunes 
impended. 

"That  is  just  what  I  say,"  said  Mrs.  Hasey,  "only 
you  are  so  quick.  You  go  before  my  story.  The 
doctor  said  she  was  not  well.  He  was  afraid  she  was 
homesick." 

"  And  then,"  interrupted  Jane  Fairbanks,  "  our  dear 
Mrs.  Hasey  knew  that  what  Aunty  Turner  wanted 
was  to  be  petted  and  fussed  over  a  little  ;  so  she  did 
not  say  a  word  to  anybody,  but  drove  over  to  the 
Palace  of  Delight  and  stayed  with  her  till  yesterday. 
And  now  Aunty  Turner  is  as  bright  as  a  new  dollar ; 
and  the  Palace  of  Delight  was  the  place  of  the  wild- 
est dissipation  while  dear  Mrs.  Hasey  was  there." 

"My  dear  child,"  said  that  nice  old  lady,  "you 
must  not  run  on  so.  You  are  wholly  ahead  of  the 
story.  You  have  none  of  the  artistic  method.  I 
meant  to  lead  Mr.  Tangier  on  day  by  day." 

Mrs.  Floxam  got  a  chance  to   say  that   it  was   a 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  283 

wonder  that  Aunty  Turner  had  not  died.  She  would 
use  Sanford's  Elixir  for  her  cough,  while  there  was 
certainly  mandragora  in  that  elixir,  and  General  Cer- 
vantes had  known,  etc. 

But  no  one  would  listen  to  her,  and  Jane  Fairbanks, 
in  her  best  style,  gave  accounts,  more  or  less  exagger- 
ated, of  the  varied  entertainments  at  the  Palace  while 
Mrs.  Hasey  had  been  at  the  fore. 

Mr.  Tangier  listened  with  thorough  interest  now. 
Had  he,  perhaps,  watched  the  hatching  of  the  eggs 
too  closely  while  he  was  at  Tenterdon  ?  Was  there, 
perhaps,  a  certain  awe  or  suspicion  attendant  on  his 
presence  every  day  at  the  Old  Stage-house,  and  was 
it  even  possible  that  Aunty  Turner  was  not  at  her 
best  in  presence  of  this  lawyer,  fresh  from  juries  and 
witnesses  ?  Such  questions,  while  they  did  not  dis- 
tinctly take  form,  were  suggested  for  future  inquiry. 
But  his  mood  now  was  rather  that  of  triumph  than  of 
analysis.  If  the  Palace  of  Delight  had  delighted  any- 
body, he  had  not  been  quite  a  fool  himself.  And  he 
was  so  far  disciplined  by  his  experience  that  he  could 
permit  the  idea  to  cross  his  mind  that  it  was  quite 
possible  that  Jane  Fairbanks  and  Mrs.  Hasey  might 
understand  the  people  in  the  midst  of  whom  they 
were  born,  quite  as  well  as  a  stranger  like  himself,  to 
whom  their  life  was  in  a  fashion  new. 

What  there  was,  in  this  jovial  and  social  week  at 
the  Palace,  which  showed  a  difference  between  its 
decorous  emptiness  of  a  fortnight  before,  and  a  cer- 
tain exuberant  and  natural  hospitality,  of  which  Jane 
Fairbanks  gave  a  very  bright  and  attractive  idea,  it 
would  be  hard  to  tell.  Simply  speaking,  and  in  the 
words  of  an  ancient  Aryan  parable,  the  ox  had  begun 


284  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

to  drink  the  water,  the  water  had  begun  to  quench 
the  fire,  the  fire  had  begun  to  burn  the  stick,  the 
stick  had  begun  to  beat  the  kid,  and  the  kid  had  begun 
to  go.  Mr.  Tangier  declared  that  he  would  have  one 
of  the  artist  guilds  design  a  frieze  to  represent  this 
triumph,  and  that  the  frieze  should  be  the  ornament 
of  the  reading-room. 

"And  I  will  pose  for  the  old  woman  in  it,"  said 
good-natured  Mrs.  Hasey. 

Jane  Fairbanks  had  met  her  class  of  girls  there  one 
afternoon,  and  the  same  afternoon  some  of  the  boys 
were  practising  before  a  match  which  was  to  be  played 
at  Wentworth.  "And,  by  the  way,  we  beat  them 
eleven  to  two."  And  Mrs.  Hasey  saw  the  boys,  as 
they  washed  themselves  after  the  game,  and  it  was 
just  as  the  girls  were  going  away.  And  she  asked 
them  why  they  did  not  all  stay  and  have  tea  together. 
And  the  boys  made  a  fire  in  Aunty  Turner's  stove, 
before  she  knew  it,  and  had  the  kettle  boiling,  and 
the  girls  had  a  table  spread  before  the  boys  knew  it. 
And  they  had  stopped  the  baker's  cart,  as  it  was  going 
across  the  lower  meadow,  and  Jem  Crothers  and  Jo 
Bayley  had  come  up  with  their  arms  piled  with  pies 
and  loaves  and  buns,  and  Madam  Cradock  had  sent 
across  a  lump  of  butter,  and  John  had  milked  his 
own  cow  in  the  pasture  half  an  hour  before  she  ex- 
pected it,  and,  in  general,  there  had  been  such  a  frolic 
in  the  reading-room  as  had  never  been  heard  of  since 
the  last  picnic  in  the  Ark,  before  the  people  left  it. 
And  then  the  girls  had  stayed,  and  the  boys  had 
stayed,  and  Mrs.  Hasey  had  stayed,  and  different 
people  had  stayed,  who  had  driven  over  to  bring 
the  girls  home,  so  that  so  many  carriages  were  in  the 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  285 

old  sheds  that  Elkanah  Phisbot  thought  there  was 
a  funeral. 

Of  which  staying  the  secret  was  that  Jane  Fair- 
banks was  at  the  piano  in  the  reception-room,  and 
they  had  opened  the  folding-doors,  and  there  was  an  im- 
promptu dance,  girls  in  their  boots,  and  boys  in  their 
tennis-shoes,  and  they  had  all  had  such  fun.  This  im- 
promptu festival,  which  nobody  had  prepared  for, 
seemed  to  have  broken  the  ice.  And  from  that  day 
on  there  had  not  been  an  afternoon  in  which  the  Old 
Stage-house  had  not  some  new  story  of  a  successful 
hospitality. 

All  of  which  was  told  to  Mr.  Tangier  with  such 
detail  as  pleased  him  well.  As  the  detail  went  on, 
he  began  and  he  finished  a  breakfast  long  drawn  out, 
and  the  party  at  last  adjourned  to  the  west  piazza. 

"  And  who  do  you  think  spent  the  night  with  Aunty 
Turner  last  night? ".he  said  in  a  mysterious  way, 
when  he  had  heard  the  whole  story  of  the  charade 
party,  which  had  left  the  Old  Stage-house  only  an  hour 
before  he  had  stopped  there  the  night  before. 

"  Oh,  last  night  she  was  alone ;  but  she  said  she 
should  not  be  frightened.  And  Laura  and  Mrs.  Hasey 
and  I  are  going  to  spend  the  afternoon  with  her." 

"But  Miss  Eemington  and  I  have  done  better  than 
that,"  he  said,  with  the  same  smile  of  mystery.  "  We 
did  not  leave  her  one  night." 

"  Is  Miss  Remington  here  ?  " 

He  would  not  be  startled  from  his  artistic  way  of 
telling  his  own  story. 

"  We  have  left  Miss  Gurtry  and  her  father  at  the 
Old  Stage-house.  You  ladies  will  know  how  Aunty 
Turner  packed  them  away.  All  I  know  is,  that  Kebus 


286  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

and  I  carried  in  a  big  trunk,  and  left  it  in  the  front 
passage,  as  you  turn  in  to  the  bar-room,  —  I  beg  your 
pardon,  into  the  '  conversation-room.'  " 

"Bessy  Gurtry  here  ? "  cried  Mrs.  Floxam  in  a 
tone  of  absolute  indignation  which  would  not  be  sup- 
pressed, while  the  others  were  too  much  amazed  at 
Mr.  Tangier's  effrontery  to  find  words. 

"Bessy  Gurtry,  as  you  call  her,  has  come  back, — 
I  was  going  to  say,  has  come  home,"  said  this  auda- 
cious man.  "  But  I  do  not  know  where  her  home  is 
now.  I  only  know  that  her  father  has  come  with  her. 
He  seems  to  be  a  very  pleasant  gentleman,  though  not 
very  handy  in  moving  trunks."  This  was  the  oracular 
reply  which  Mr.  Tangier  made  to  all  questions.  And 
all  questioners  felt  that  if  he  were  carrying  on  a  pri- 
vate correspondence  with  Miss  Gurtry  he  had  a  very 
public  manner  of  announcing  it. 

Jane  Fairbanks  was  the  first  person  to  break  the 
silence  of  surprise.  She  had  never  taken  much  part 
with  the  gossips  who  had  attended  most  largely  to 
Mr.  Tangier's  affairs,  May  Remington's,  and  Bessy 
Gurtry's.  She  was  an  honest,  straightforward  girl, 
who  was  a  little  reticent  about  her  own  affairs,  and 
did  not  permit  much  interference  with  them.  This 
healthy  habit  had  led  to  the  other  healthy  habit  that 
she  did  not  interfere  much  with  other  people's.  On 
this  occasion,  her  real  interest  in  the  Palace  of  De- 
light led  her  a  little  beyond  her  accustomed  line. 

"  Mr.  Tangier,"  she  cried,  "  listen  to  me.  I  have  for 
once  thought  a  great  thought.  Why  does  not  Bessy 
Gurtry  fill  all  the  conditions  ?  Let  her  live  at  the 
Palace  of  Delight,  and  everything  will  be  Delightful." 

Everybody  else,  even  Mrs.  Hasey,  stared  with  amaze- 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  287 

ment  at  her  audacity.  Only  Mr.  Tangier  did  not  see 
any  audacity.  "  That  is  just  what  I  proposed  to  her 
before  she  went  away,"  he  said,  "  and  she  said  it  was 
wholly  out  of  the  question ;  and  she  went  off  to  her 
Hoosier  or  Buckeye  Tecumseh  after  saying  so.  But 
now  she  is  back,  —  actually  in  the  Palace  of  Delight,  — 
I  do  wish  you  and  Mrs.  Hasey  would  patch  her  up 
some  sort  of  throne  there.  Have  you  not  got  some  old 
lounges  and  patchwork  that  will  make  a  good  republi- 
can throne  ?  For  it  would  be  an  excellent  thing  if  she 
should  reign  there." 

"  Impudent  creature ! "  muttered  Mrs.  Floxam,  as  the 
ladies  retired.  But  probably  every  one  else  felt  that 
she  had,  perhaps,  in  the  talk  of  the  last  week,  been 
a  little  too  busy  in  the  affairs  of  Miss  Gurtry  and 
Mr.  Tangier. 


288  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS, 


CHAPTER  XV. 

AT  the  Palace  of  Delight  itself,  no  one  complained, 
on  this  particular  morning,  that  there  was  a 
lack  either  of  princes  of  the  blood,  of  princesses,  of 
courtiers,  or  of  other  visitors. 

Aunty  Turner  had  been  surprised,  indeed,  at  the 
sudden  arrival  of  visitors.  She  had  been  more  sur- 
prised at  the  intimation  given  by  both  Nahum  and 
Rebus  that  the  two  persons  whose  trunks  were  landed 
on  the  piazza  of  the  Stage-house  were  to  spend  the 
night  under  its  roof.  When,  however,  she  saw  that 
one  of  the  two  was  her  dear  Bessy  Gurtry,  whom  she 
loved  as  if  she  were  her  own  daughter,  her  cordiality 
bubbled  over.  And  the  arrangements  which  she  sud- 
denly made  for  a  nice  little  supper,  and  for  their  sleep- 
ing comfort,  showed  that  no  real  mistake  had  been 
made  when  she  had  been  intrusted  with  the  duties  of 
High  Chamberlain  of  the  Palace  of  Delight. 

The  next  morning  —  the  same  morning  when  Mr. 
Tangier  had  to  undergo  the  cross-examination  of  the 
Boarders,  as  has  been  described— Mr.  Gurtry,  Miss 
Gurtry,  and  Aiiuty  Turner  met  each  other  at  sunrise 
in  a  futile  effort  each  to  anticipate  the  other  in  mak- 
ing the  fire  in  the  kitchen  stove.  Aunty  Turner  had 
great  advantage  in  knowing  where  the  matches  were 
kept,  and  the  kindling.  Bessy  Gurtry  had  the  advan- 
tage of  youth,  and  John  Gurtry  such  advantage  as  is 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  289 

derived  from  the  central  truth,  around  which  the 
civilization  of  America  may  be  said  to  turn,  —  that,  in 
the  most  perfect  social  order,  it  is  a  man's  business, 
and  not  a  woman's,  to  attend  to  this  affair.  So  far 
has  modern  civilization  advanced  upon  that  of  the 
Aryans  in  this  matter  of  fit  homage  paid  to  Hestia, 
Vesta,  or  whoever  presides  over  the  family  hearth. 
With  three  such  conspirators  blowing  the  coals  to- 
gether, the  fire  soon  burned,  and  coffee,  omelets,  hot 
biscuit,  toast,  and  other  minor  comforts  and  prepara- 
tions for  the  day  followed  in  order. 

But  before  the  early  breakfast,  thus  initiated,  was 
half  finished,  a  wagon  clattered  up  at  the  door,  and 
George  Drummond  boldly  entered. 

He  had  a  large  basket,  covered  with  a  white  nap- 
kin. He  said  that  the  moment  he  saw  his  aunt  the 
night  before,  she  had  scolded  him  for  not  bringing 
the  Gurtrys  direct  to  her  house.  He  said  that  she 
had  been  up  early,  and  broiled  a  chicken,  because 
she  thought  Mrs.  Turner  might  not  expect  company. 
And  when  the  basket  came  to  be  opened,  it  proved 
that  this  broiled  chicken  was  a  brief  expression  for  a 
very  thorough  breakfast.  Aunty  Turner  was  by  no 
means  slow  in  placing  upon  the  table  these  additions 
to  the  bill  of  fare,  and  she  insisted  that  Mr.  Drum- 
mond should  join  in  the  repast.  He  did  not  pretend 
that  he  had  breakfasted,  and  it  was  accordingly  a 
party  of  four  who  had,  in  a  very  few  minutes  more, 
to  welcome  Mrs.  Campbell. 

Mrs.  Campbell  was  the  good,  motherly  soul  at  whose 
house  Bessy  Gurtry  had  always  lived.  The  mild 
police  of  Tenterdon  had  already  informed  her  that 
the  Gurtrys  were  at  the  Old  Stage-house.  She  had; 

19 


290  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

come  over  to  remonstrate.  She  was,  however,  obliged 
to  confess,  in  answer  to  a  skilful  cross-examination 
from  George  Drummond,  that  her  husband's  grand- 
mother and  two  nieces  had  arrived  from  New  York 
the  week  before,  that  her  own  cousins  had  come  down 
from  Lawrence,  and  that  she  did  not  know  how  long 
they  would  stay,  and  that  Bessy  Gurtry's  own  room 
was  at  this  moment  occupied  by  Miss  Flanders,  who 
had  been  ill,  and  had  been  advised  to  try  sea  air. 
But  Mrs.  Campbell  made  very  light  of  these  additions 
to  the  usual  home  circle,  and  insisted  that  Mr.  Gurtry 
and  his  daughter  should  come  up  with  her  to  break- 
fast. When  they  explained  that  they  had  already 
eaten  two  breakfasts,  or  had  done  their  best  to  do  so, 
she  only  changed  her  attack  to  proposing  that  they 
should  come  a  little  latter  in  the  morning. 

She  was  the  beginning  of  the  series  of  welcomes 
which  made  the  Palace  of  Delight,  for  that  day  at 
least,  the  central  point  of  the  hospitality  of  the  town. 
News  of  some  kinds  circulates  fast  in  a  place  like 
Tenterdon ;  as,  by  a  very  curious  law,  other  things 
will  not  circulate  at  all.  The  moment  the  boys  who 
had  been  at  Bessy  Gurtry's  school  were  apprised,  by 
the  mild  police,  that  Miss  Gurtry  had  returned,  they 
and  theirs  found  excuses  for  going  down  to  tell  her 
how  much  they  had  missed  her,  and  how  glad  they 
were  that  she  had  come.  Many  were  the  bids  which 
were  offered,  with  various  forms  of  temptation,  that 
she  should  make  her  home,  at  least  for  the  time,  in 
one  or  other  of  the  houses  represented  by  these  vis- 
itors. There  were  three  or  four  boys  and  girls  talk- 
ing merrily  with  her  when  the  contingent  from  Mrs. 
Fairbanks's  arrived,  Mr.  Tangier  himself  driving  the 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  291 

horse,  and  Jane  Fairbanks,  Mrs.  Hasey  and  Laura 
Crawford,  making  the  party.  Jane  Fairbanks  offered 
the  hospitality  of  her  mother's  home,  thus  bringing 
herself  into  accord  with  the  rest  of  the  world.  And 
Bessy  Gurtry  was  fairly  roused  from  that  sort  of 
shyness  which  generally  marked  her  manner  in  the 
presence  of  a  crowd  of  people  by  the  ludicrous  side 
which  presented  itself  in  the  multitude  of  invitations. 
It  was  clear  enough  that  she  could  make  no  imme- 
diate answer,  and  the  various  calls  on  her  resolved 
themselves  into  a  sort  of  morning  levee,  such  as  not 
the  boldest  had  proposed  for  the  Palace  of  Delight, 
even  in  the  most  sanguine  imaginings.  And  there 
was  a  general  burst  of  laughter  when  Mrs.  Dunster 
and  May  Remington  appeared,  and  brought  their 
invitation  in  their  turn. 

May  Remington  was  perfectly  determined  that  she 
would  do  the  upright  and  generous  thing,  by  way  of 
punishing  herself  for  an  unconscious  folly.  She  had 
told  her  aunt  that  she  must  come  with  her,  to  give  the 
invitation  full  force,  and  to  explain  to  Bessy  Gurtry 
that  there  was  no  place  so  central  and  so  comfortable 
for  her  to  stay  in,  as  long  as  she  liked  to  stay,  as  was 
her  house.  Mrs.  Dunster  perhaps  had  a  little  of  May's 
feeling  in  the  matter  that  she  had  been  unjust  to  the 
little  schoolmistress.  At  all  events,  she  entered  very 
cordially  into  these  plans.  It  needed  only  the  pres- 
ence of  Mr.  Burdett  and  the*  doctor  to  bring  all  the 
original  conspirators,  as  they  used  to  call  themselves, 
into  the  Palace  of  Delight  on  this  eventful  morning ; 
and  they  began  to  remember  that  it  was  the  first  time 
for  such  a  meeting  since  the  evening  of  the  fire-works 
and  the  inauguration.  Somebody  started  Aunty  Turner 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

on  the  account  of  the  dissipation  of  the  last  week,  —  of 
the  spontaneous  tea-party,  and  of  the  various  frolics, 
grave  and  gay,  which  had  followed.  When  Aunty 
Turner  was  well  talking,  without  much  thought  of 
her  audience,  but  with  a  proper  enthusiasm  for  her 
story,  she  was  one  of  the  most  entertaining  people  in 
the  world.  And  while  one  or  another  of  the  party 
dropped  off  into  one  or  other  of  the  various  open 
rooms,  a  large  circle  cheered  her  on  to  her  talking, 
and  stimulated  her  to  new  enthusiasm  as  she  told 
the  tale. 

She  was  so  full  of  a  certain  unconscious  fun,  and 
talked  with  such  animation,  that  most  of  the  circle 
did  not  observe  that  the  three  gentlemen,  Mr.  Tangier, 
Mr.  Drummond,  and  Mr.  Gurtry,  had  for  the  moment 
withdrawn.  But  May  Kemington,  who  was  sitting  by 
Miss  Gurtry's  side,  did  notice  it  when  John  Gurtry 
came  softly  in  at  the  open  door,  touched  his  daughter's 
shoulder,  and  beckoned  her  away. 

Bessy  Gurtry  supposed,  and  naturally  enough,  that 
she  was  called  in  to  the  business  conference  which  the 
three  men  were  holding. 

But,  to  her  surprise,  her  father  disappeared  the  mo- 
ment they  crossed  the  passage,  and  she  found  herself 
alone  with  George  Drummond. 

"  It  was  I  who  sent  your  father  to  call  you,"  he  said. 
"  Really  I  have  to  make  the  decision  which  affects  all 
my  life ;  and  I  speak  perfectly  seriously  when  I  say 
that  I  cannot  make  that  decision  without  asking  you  to 
go  back  to  what  happened  in  this  room  when  you  were 
in  it  last.  I  hurried  you  then.  I  was  too  masterful, 
I  suppose.  They  say  that  is  my  way.  But  I  will  not 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  293 

be  masterful  now.  I  will  be  very  humble  and  gentle, 
and  I  will  wait  as  long  as  you  say,  if  I  must  wait.  I 
will  gladly  wait,  if  you  will  only  bid  me  do  s<3." 

The  girl  looked  at  him  silently,  but  with  an  eager 
expression  which  he  thought  was  her  command  to  him 
to  be  still. 

"  No,  I  must  speak ;  and  I  must  speak  to-day,"  he 
said,  more  hastily  than  before.  He  had  finished  the 
speech  he  had  been  preparing,  and  now  spoke  with 
more  of  the  pent-up  passion  of  these  weeks  of  lone- 
liness. "I  must  speak.  I  cannot  live  as  I  have 
been  living.  I  can  bear  anything  but  that.  No. 
You  do  not  know,  you  cannot  know,  what  it  is  to 
go  and  come  always  with  the  thought  of  another 
person  —  always !  Why,  Miss  Gurtry,  it  was  not 
only  in  this  journey  back  and  forth  to  Tecumseh 
and  here,  it  was  every  step  I  took  in  Broadway, 
which  you  took  with  me ;  you  did  not  so  much  as 
know  it,"  he  added  after  a  pause,  almost  in  a  bitter 
way.  "I  would  start,  when  this  man  asked  me 
about  his  colony,  as  if  I  had  never  heard  him  speak 
before,  and  it  was  only  from  wondering  what  you 
would  say." 

Perhaps  it  was  the  surprise  of  finding  him,  when 
she  thought  she  was  to  meet  all  the  others.  Perhaps 
it  was  the  excitement  of  the  jolly  party  she  had  left. 
But  surely  she  had  not  that  wretched,  dejected  air 
which  she  had  when  she  last  sat  in  that  chair.  Then 
she  was  so  wholly  broken  down.  Now  she  was  serious 
indeed,  but  she  did  not  look  as  if  she  felt  all  alone  in 
the  world. 

"I  am  so  sorry  to  have  been  such  a  —  such  a  burden 
to  you,  Mr.  Drummond.  Really,  what  I  said  here  was 


294  MR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

true.     Keally,  I  will  count  you  always  as  one  of  my 
best  friends." 

Ah,  me,  how  many  girls  have  said  this  to  how  many 
boys,  and  how  very  unsatisfactory  is  the  promise  ! 

"  I  know  you  said  it,"  said  he,  not  wholly  discour- 
aged, "  and  it  has  done  me  more  good  than  you  thought 
or  than  you  meant  indeed,  perhaps." 

"Not  than  I  meant,  Mr.  Drummond;  you  are  not 
quite  fair." 

"  What  did  you  mean,  —  what  do  you  mean  ?  Do 
you  mean  that  anything  parts  us  that  I  can  remove  ? 
Or  do  you  mean  that  you  distrust  me,  that  any  one 
says  anything  ill  of  me,  that  —  that  —  " 

"George  Drummond,  I  trust  you  as  I  trust  myself. 
I  thank  you  with  all  my  heart.  I  am  more  sorry  than 
I  can  say  —  that  —  " 

His  face  flushed  with  his  delight.  "Then  the 
trouble  is  not  with  me ;  it  is  with  you.  I  have  no 
right  to  ask,  and  I  will  not  ask.  But  now  I  will  wait 
till  you  can  see  —  " 

"Take  care,  Mr.  Drummond."  It  was  her  turn  to 
interrupt  him  now.  "  Take  care  — "  But  he  would 
not  wait. 

"No,  I  must  speak  now.  I  am  going  to  say  that  I 
am  sure  of  the  sympathy,  the  confidence,  of  the  noblest 
girl  in  the  world,  and  the  dearest ;  and  she  even  says 
that  1  have  her  esteem.  Sure  of  that,  I  shall  go  to 
Labrador,  if  need  be,  and  I  shall  be  happy.  For  I 
shall  come  back  twelve  months  hence,  and  I  shall  be 
in  this  room  with  her,  and  then  I  shall  be  so  sure, 
and  she  will  be  a  little  doubtful,  and  then  I  shall 
know  that  I  have  won  her  ^by  my  confidence  and  my. 
obedience." 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  295 

His  face  was  fairly  eloquent,  as  he  spoke  with  a 
passion  which  affected  to  be  satisfied. 

"No,  Mr.  Drummond.  I  may  not  be  here  then. 
Who  knows?" 

"  Why  do  I  not  know  ?  "  he  replied,  as  if  surprised ; 
and  perhaps  he  was.  "Why  does  not  your  best  friend 
know  ?  Why  not  tell  the  man  you  honor,  in  whom 
you  have  confidence,  whose  integrity  you  are  sure  of, 
and  whose  judgment  you  respect?" 

"Because  he  wants  me  to  tell  him  something 
more,"  she  said  sadly ;  and  all  the  animation,  which 
had  been  an  accident  indeed,  left  her.  "I  can  tell 
you  this,  —  you  saw  it  last  night.  I  do  not  know 
if  I  ought  to  say  it ;  but  you  are  good,  you  are 
kind.  My  father  —  do  you  not  see?  He  is,  —  oh,  I 
wish  I  could  make  you  see  !  —  he  is  a  wonderful  man 
in  the  real  things.  But  —  well  —  in  the  world's 
ways  he  is  a  child,  and  less  than  a  child.  He  cared 
for  me,  Mr.  Drummond,  when  I  needed  him.  I  care 
for  him,  now  he  needs  me.  No  one  shall  come  be- 
tween us,  —  no,  not  even  you."  % 

"Even  I ! "  he  cried  in  triumph.  "  You  would  sooner 
trust  me  than  any  other  man !  Darling  mine,  that  is 
all  I  ask,  it  is  all  that  I  have  pretended  to  ask  for." 
And  his  face  flushed  with  a  joy  which  the  girl  never 
eaw  on  it  before.  The  suddenness  of  his  outcry,  and 
the  eagerness  of  his  whole  manner,  broke  her  guard ; 
she  smiled  with  a  smile  which  he  will  never  forget, 
and  lost  her  secret. 

She  knew  she  had  lost  it.  "  How  could  I  say  that  ? 
But  I  have  said  it,  and  it  is  true.  Now  do  you  under- 
stand, do  you  see,  that  I  could  not,  nay,  I  cannot,  talk 
of  myself,  talk  of  you,  talk  of  leading  a  life  for  you 


296  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

and  with  you,  when  I  have  him  to  care  for  who  has 
already  cared  for  me  ?  " 

And  by  this  time  George  Drummond's  arms  were 
around  the  girl,  and  he  was  kissing  her,  and  she  did 
not  draw  away  from  his  caresses. 

Meanwhile,  Mr.  Tangier  was  carrying  on  an  inter- 
view with  Mr.  Gurtry. 

"What  I  meant,  Mr.  Gurtry,  was  this:  If  Miss 
Gurtry  lives  in  this  hotise,  —  and  that  was  the  plan  I 
proposed  to  her  before  she  went  away,  —  there  should 
be  some  man  here  to  see  to  both  these  ladies,  and  in 
general,  well,  not  exactly  as  protector,  but  as  man 
of  the  house,  you  know,  to  keep  the  machine  properly 
running.  Why  are  not  you  that  man  ?  We  cannot 
pay  you  what  would  be  called  a  salary ;  but  we  can 
manage  that  there  shall  be  something  to  eat  and  drink 
here,  and  fire  and  beds  for  all.  You  have  your  own 
business  to  attend  to,  your  patents,  your  articles  for 
the  reviews,  and  you  can  see  to  them  as  well  as  if  you 
were  in  Tecumseh.  There  would  be  no  difficulty,  if 
you  should  want  to  run  on  to  Washington.  Some  of 
the  young  men  would  man  the  house,  —  Druinniond 
here,  or  the  doctor,  or  I  would." 

Run  on  to  Washington,  indeed  !  As  if  poor  Mr.  Gur- 
try could  run  here  and  there  as  he  chose !  But  there 
was  something  fascinating  merely  in  the  suggestion. 

"It  must  be  as  Bessy  says,"  he  replied.  "She  is 
very  prudent,  and  very  wise."  This  indeed  was  the 
sum  of  several  little  speeches  by  which  he  replied  to 
Mr.  Tangier's  business-like  statements  and  suggestions. 
Mr.  Tangier  saw  that  that  was  true  which  he  had 
suspected,  —  that  whatever  power  of  command  Captain 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  297 

Gurtry  might  Lave  had  when  he  served  under  the 
orders  of  some  spirited  colonel,  such  power  had  left 
him  now.  All  the  same  did  he  press  the  project, 
which  he  had  determined  on  the  night  before,  —  that 
John  Gurtry  should  be  established  at  Tenterdon,  and 
the  Old  Stage-house  should  be  his  home. 

"I  should  like  to  talk  with  my  daughter  about  it. 
She  will  know  what  is  best.  Where  did  she  go  ?  I 
called  her  in,  and  I  thought  she  would  like  to  hear 
what  you  and  the  other  gentleman  were  saying." 

Jeffrey  Tangier  was  not  without  suspicions  as  t& 
what  the  other  gentleman  was  saying.  And  he  was 
so  loyal  to  his  friend  Drummond  that  if  he  had  pro- 
longed the  discussion  till  sunset,  or  till  midnight,  he 
"would  have  held  Mr.  Gurtry  rather  than  have  him  go 
in  search  of  his  daughter.  But  it  was  not  needed  that 
he  should  do  so.  Just  as  Mr.  Gurtry  said,  for  the 
sixth  time,  perhaps,  "  I  must  go  and  find  Bessy,"  the 
door  opened,  and  Bessy  came  in,  followed  by  George 
Drummond.  As  Mr.  Tangier  looked  at  him  he  saw 
that  all  was  well.  Drummond  was  himself  again. 
He  came  directly  to  Mr.  Gurtry,  and  said:  "You 
must  not  think  I  have  kept  your  daughter  too  long, 
Mr.  Gurtry.  I  shall  want  to  keep  her  a  great  deal 
longer.  I  have  asked  her  to  be  my  wife,  and  she  has 
not  said  no.  She  has  said  that  she  must  not  leave  her 
father.  There  is  no  reason  why  she  should,  unless  her 
father  wants  to  leave  her."  And  he  just  nodded  to 
Mr.  Tangier,  with  a  proud  smile,  as  much  as  to  say, 
"  You  understand  what  a  victory.  I  have  won." 

While  poor  Mr.  Gurtry  was  vainly  trying  to  shake 
himself  together,  Tangier  was  eagerly  congratulating 
George  Drummond,  leaving  the  girl  to  her  father,  yes. 


298  MR.   TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  ' 

to  cry  a  little,  to  whisper  a  little,  and  for  her  to  make 
him  see  that  every  care  she  had  ever  had  was  lifted 
from  her,  and  that  she  was  the  happiest  girl  that  ever 
lived  —  that  she  did  not  know  why  she  was  so  happy. 
"  I  do  not  see,"  said  Tangier  to  Drummond,  "  why 
this  does  not  make  our  plan  here  even  more  simple. 
Let  us  establish  him  here.  You  shall  establish  her 
where  you  will  and  when  you  will.  Clearly,  he  is  a 
person  who  will  help  us  on  all  sides  here.  And,  who 
knows,  he  may  be  the  very  missing  link,  which,  with 
Aunty  Turner,  shall  complete  our  chain.  We  will 
leave  them  for  a  minute,  you  shall  have  time  enough 
with  her  by-and-by.  Come  back  to  the  others,  and  let 
us  hear  the  rest  of  their  stories." 

And  so  it  was  announced  to  assembled  Tenterdon  in 
the  spontaneous  congress  which  had  welcomed  Bessy 
Gurtry  and  her  father,  that,  at  least  for  the  present, 
they  would  stay  at  the  Old  Stage-house.  The  caucus 
even  went  so  far  as  to  indicate  the  rooms  which  they 
two  should  occupy,  and  to  make  some  suggestions  as 
,  to  the  furniture.  New  England  does  not  like  to  be 
told  that  any  plan  has  been  specifically  settled  in  all 
its  details.  New  England  greatly  prefers  to  have  the 
details  arrange  themselves,  from  step  to  step.  So  the 
conclave,  caucus,  or  congress,  was  well-pleased  with 
this  announcement.  As  for  Aunty  Turner,  she  was  in 
the  seventh  heaven.  That  she  and  her  dear  child,  as 
she  loved  to  call  Bessy  Gurtry  should  live  under  the 
same  roof, — this  she  had  never  hoped  for.  Even 
Aunty  Turner  was  still  blind  to  the  secret,  which  had 
been  so  close  under  her  eyes,  that  George  Drummond 
had  determined  long  ago  that  Bessy  Gurtry  should 
live  under  no  roof  but  his. 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  299 


CHAPTER  LAST. 

Jeffrey  Tangier  to  Mrs.  Dunster. 

O  HALL  I  come  up  to  tea  to-night  ?  1  have  some  papers 
^-}  about  the  Palace  which  I  want  to  show  you.  May  I 
bring  the  doctor  ?  J.  T. 

On  the  back  this  note  bears  Mrs.  Dunster's  answer, 
written  in  pencil :  — 

"  Certainly.     Shall  I  send  for  Mr.  Burdett  ?  " 

And  to  Kebus,  who  brought  down  the  folded  answer, 
Mr.  Tangier  had  said,  "  Yes."  So  Kebus  had  gone  on 
to  Mr.  Burdett's  with  a  note  with  which  he  had  been 
provided.  Rebus  had  himself  approved  of  this  ar- 
rangement, or  he  would,  before  this,  have  interposed 
with  his  veto.  And  so  was  it  that  the  central  con- 
spirators met  at  high  tea. 

Into  the  detail  of  the  conversation,  which  was  almost 
wholly  about  the  Old  Stage-house  and  its  future,  and 
Bessy  Gurtry  and  hers,  this  record  shall  not  now  go 
farther.  But  when  the  last  macaroon  had  been  eaten, 
and  the  last  jelly  refused,  wheu'all  parties  went  out 
on  the  west  piazza,  and  sat  in  the  glory  of  the  sunset, 
Mr.  Tangier  produced  from  his  pocket  an  envelope, 
and  said :  — 

"I  want  to  show  you  this.  I  am  satisfied  that  we 
have  not  made  fools  of  ourselves,  and  that  what  we 
have  done  is,  on  the  whole,  a  good  beginning-  I  have 


300  .  AIR.    TANGIER'S  VACATIONS. 

therefore  concluded  a  bargain  for  the  Stage-house 
to-day,  and  it  will  be  mine  to-morrow.  Sugden,  at 
Wentworth,  has  been  looking  up  the  title  to-day,  and 
probably  the  deed  is  already  drawn  and  signed.  Now, 
I  may  die  at  any  moment,  and  we  want  no  mistakes." 

May  Remington  started,  but  not  observably,  when 
he  said  he  might  die.  She  was  not  used  to  a  thought 
which  comes  of  course  into  a  mind  well-trained  in  life, 
nor  to  the  habit  by  which  such  a  man  as  Jeffrey  Tan- 
gier always  leaves  a  day  so  finished  that  any  stranger 
may  take  up  his  work  on  the  next  day,  and  know  how 
to  carry  it  on.  He  was  not  even  looking  at  her,  and 
he  went  on  without  a  pause :  "  I  have,  therefore,  drawn 
up  this  deed  of  trust,  which,  if  you  all  approve,  I  will 
execute  before  I  go  to  bed."  And  he  read  this  instru- 
ment, which  was  short  and  clear.  May  Remington  was 
surprised,  after  all  she  had  heard  about  legal  obscu- 
rities, that  it  stated  so  simply  what  was  needed.  She 
said  aloud :  "  Is  that  a  deed  of  trust  ?  I  could  have 
drawn  it  myself."  Perhaps  she  could. 

It  gave  the  Old  Stage-house,  with  the  four  acres  of 
land  appertaining  to  it,  to  six  trustees,  —  George  Drum- 
mond,  Mrs.  Duuster,  May  Remington,  Mr.  Burdett, 
the  doctor,  and  Mr.  Tangier  himself.  On  the  death 
or  resignation  of  any  one  of  them,  the  others  were  to 
appoint  a  successor.  If  they  thought  at  any  time 
that  an  act  of  incorporation  was  necessary,  they  were 
to  secure  one.  This  was  the  first  article.  The  second 
article  placed  in  their  hands  fifteen  bonds  of  one 
thousand  dollars  each  of  the  Chicago,  Kansas,  & 
Western  Railway,  of  which  the  interest  was  to  be 
paid  semi-annually  to  John  Gurtry  as  long  as  he  lived 
in  the  Old  Stage-house,  and  afterward  for  any  such 


MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS.  301 

purposes  as  the  majority  of  the  trustees  might  ap- 
prove. This  was  all. 

"  You  are  very  generous,"  said  Mrs.  Dunster, 
eagerly. 

"  Hardly  so,  for  I  please  myself  most  of  all,"  said 
he,  rising  and  making  a  motion  that  they  might  re- 
turn to  the  lighted  room.  Why  was  he  in  such  haste  ? 
Had  he  any  premonition  of  evil  ?  This  was  the 
thought  which  crossed  Miss  Remington  as  his  manner 
compelled  them  all  to  rise. 

In  a  moment  more  he  was  seated  by  the  lamp, 
which  he  had  himself  removed  from  the  centre-table 
to  Mrs.  Dunster's  davenport.  He  asked  Mrs.  Dunster 
to  call  two  of  the  children,  who  were  in  the  other 
room,  to  witness  the  signature  by  which  he  completed 
his  share  of  the  transaction.  He  returned  it  to  the 
envelope  from  which  he  had  taken  it,  and  sealed  it. 
He  directed  it  to  George  Drummond,  and  asked  Mrs. 
Dunster  to  hand  it  to  him  in  the  morning.  Miss 
Kemington  looked  on  all  the  time,  almost  frightened, 
she  hardly  knew  why.  But  she  hardly  knew  this 
resolution  and  promptness  in  the  man,  though  there 
had  been  signs  of  the  same  thing  once  and  again 
when  they  had  been  working  on  the  details  of  the 
Palace. 

The  moment  the  envelope  was  sealed,  his  whole 
manner  changed.  "Now,"  said  he  gayly,  "we  can 
go  to  bed  with  a  good  conscience.  Going,  doctor,  so 
soon  ?  Can  we  not  keep  you,  unless  we  have  a  head- 
ache, or  a  deed  of  trust  to  sign  ?  Come  with  him,  Miss 
May,  to  the  foot  of  the  avenue ;  I  want  to  show  you 
the  reflection  of  the  moon  in  the  sea." 

She  ran  for  a  hat  and  shawl,  and  joined  him.     They 


302  MR.    TANGIER'S   VACATIONS. 

walked  down  the  avenue  with  the  doctor  and  bade 
him  good-by.  Then  Mr.  Tangier  led  her  to  a  stile  on 
which  she  had  often  sat  before. 

"  There  is  the  moon,"  said  he,  "  and  there  is  the 
sea.  So  I  have  shown  them  to  you.  But  I  did  not 
come  here  for  that,  Miss  Remington.  I  came  here  for 
the  same  reason  that  I  left  the  yacht.  You  have  been 
displeased  with  me.  I  do  not  know  why.  If  any 
other  woman  were  displeased  with  me,  I  should  not 
care  why,  unless  I  were  displeased  with  myself  at  the 
same  time.  But  every  day  I  was  away  from  Tenter- 
don  I  found  myself  wondering  more  and  more  why 
you  were  displeased  with  me,  and  eager  to  put  my- 
self in  the  right.  In  truth,  I  only  came  here  yester- 
day to  ask  your  aunt  where  you  were.  I  counted  it  a 
good  omen  that  I  found  you  at  Wentworth.  Let  me 
ask  you  now  what  is  the  matter." 

"Nothing  is  the  matter,"  said  May  Remington,  at 
first  a  little  hardly.  Then  she  was  conscious  that 
this  was  unfair.  She  had  been  in  the  wrong,  and 
she  would  own  it,  though  she  would  never  own  how 
far  she  had  been  in  the  wrong.  She  went  on  more 
cordially :  "  I  will  tell  the  truth.  I  did  misunderstand 
you.  I  was  a  fool,  and  a  perfect  fool.  If  I  were  cold 
in  my  manner,  why,  I  am  sorry,  and  I  wish  you  would 
never  speak  of  it  again." 

"  Thank  you  a  thousand  times,"  said  he.  "  Thank 
you,  indeed,  a  thousand  times.  You  give  rne  more 
pleasure  than  you  know.  But  really  you  have  only 
answered  one  question.  I  want  to  ask  another.  As 
soon  as  "y°u.  left  Tenterdon,  I  found  I  did  not  care 
about  staying.  I  found,  dear  Miss  May,  that  it  was 
not  Tenterdon  I  liked,  but  you.  I  went  away,  because 


MR.    TANGIER'S    VACATIONS.  303 

I  wanted  to  try  myself.  I  have  come  back  because  I 
could  not  stay  away.  But  unless  you  tell  ine  that 
hereafter  I  may  come  and  find  you  here,  I  will  leave 
Tenterdon  to-morrow,  and  never  set  my  foot  in  it 
again." 

She  looked  at  him,  and  he  could  see  in  the  moon- 
light that  she  tried  to  smile.  But  she  could  not  smile. 
She  tried  to  speak  —  she  could  not  spea"k.  She  stepped 
from  the  stile,  and  walked  toward  the  house ;  but  he 
was  of  course  at  her  side. 

"  What  is  it,"  he  said ;  "why  do  you  say  nothing  ?  " 
"  Because  —  because  —  I  hope  you  will  stay  here  all 
summer." 


Uulvcrslty  Press  :  John  Wilson  &  Son.  Cambridge. 


